What is authentication in general and multi-factor authentication in particular?
Multifactor authentication (MFA) is a type of authentication that uses two or more authentication factors to assure the authenticity of an entity in a given communication. MFA may include factors such as something you know (password/passphrase, personal identification number (PIN)), something you have (cryptographic identification devices such as smartcards, tokens) or something you are (biometric characteristics likewise fingerprints, face/iris/retina scans).
Authentication – Authentication is the process of proving claimed identity of an entity (people, devices, services.
It is one of the four elements (Identification, Authentication, Authorization, Accountability (IAAA)) of identity and access management (IAM) systems.
Authentication factors include:
- Something you know: password,PIN, passphrase
- Something you have: smartcard, hardware token, memory card,
- Something you are: Biometric- Fingerprint, Iris/Retina patterns, Face/palm scans
- Something you do: Keystroke, signature,
- Somewhere you are: Geo-location, timezone, phone number
Multi-factor authentication is the use of two or more of these factors to authenticate entities and safeguard assets. Unlike single-factor, It will be harder for attackers to break into systems protected by multi-factor authentication.