What is two-factor authentication and why is it so important?

In these times we all have a good number of accounts of all kinds, from those that encompass our personal life, to those that are from our work, through emails, banks, etc. Well, securing the most important ones must be done with a security bonus such as the one granted by two-step authentication.

In order to protect the numerous accounts that we all have active, we have two-step authentication at our disposal, a system that provides an important security plus.

It is something that, as you may have already seen online, is recommended by security experts to the authorities themselves in order to protect us from possible hacks on our main accounts.

So that you are well informed, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about this protection method, what it is, how it works and even the various methods that can be used.

What is two-step authentication?

Two-step authentication (2FA) is a system that add an extra step for the verification of access to a website, an email or an application.

This is intended to increase safety, since they are combining two different partsthat is, to Password that we have used all our lives in accessing Internet sites, we add some type of temporary code that they send us, mainly to the mobile terminal, to guarantee that we are ourselves.

This means that the way we will have to work if we activate authentication on a website, for example, will be to enter with our username and then the usual password. Once we have put it, we will not access until we put a code that they have just sent us to the smartphone by means of an SMS (one of the ways to do it).

For friends of what is foreign, it is fairly easy to discover the username and password of a website, especially if it has not been changed for a long time, but the code that is generated with two-factor authentication, it only lasts a few minutes and even secondsnot being valid if that time has passed, something that is almost impossible for them to track in any way.

The conclusion is clear, this system offers us much more security than what we used until now, no matter how often we changed the password.

Two-step authentication methods

There are different methods to achieve two-factor authentication. All of them are equally effective, although it is true that some are used much more than others.

The different types are as follows:

• By SMS: As you may have imagined, this system consists of sending us the one-time authentication code by means of a text message (SMS) to the mobile terminal that we have previously registered on that website, email or app. This is the most used form of two-factor authentication, especially among banks and entities of this type.
• TOTP: this method involves the use of an application that we have previously installed on the smartphone and that is responsible for generating new codes. The great advantage of this method is that it does not require an Internet connection, since the application can generate codes as long as it has the correct time configured on the device and without depending on the network at all.
• Notices: This is a method used by Google and Apple, among others, whose implementation is relatively newer than the two we have seen before. It’s a simple way, because the service sends a security notification to your phone, tablet or smart watch. If you are registering a phone number, the notice will be sent to the old terminal. You simply have to approve the login request to continue.
• Hardware: This is the safest method of all the ones we have seen so far, although it is also the one that takes the longest to unlock. We must use an external device such as a Yubikey or a Titan Security Key from Google. For example, we will have a dongle that will remain permanently connected to your computer, activating a key that will be the one that marks the access to the account that we have registered.

What is the safest method of all?

Although the SMS method is the most used, the truth is that can be counterproductivesince it may serve to create scams with these messages, as they can be duplicated and send links to fraudulent websites and even, in the most serious cases, clone the SIM or hijack it.

The method based on hardware is undoubtedly the most secure of allBut also has a couple of drawbacks. The most notorious is the money that we have to invest in the keys, in addition to the fact that this type of system may not be compatible with our device.

The method by notifications is considered more secure than SMSbut being connected to the network has its share of insecurity, in addition to the fact that it may happen that we do not receive said notice, since the device it should reach is no longer operational if it is a different one than the one we use at that time.

If we talk about TOTP system we will find that it encompasses very well the comfort, safety and price. We can use applications such as Google Authenticator, which does not need an Internet connection to work.

This, as is evident, makes it much less vulnerable and more secure against any type of remote attack, which is why it also becomes the best option of all, in general terms.

As you have seen, the best way to ensure that our accounts are as secure as possible is to use two-step authentication. It is not that we are talking about a totally infallible system, something that does not exist today, but it does come as close as possible to it.

There is no doubt that security is greatly magnified with two-step authentication and, although the unlocking time is also slightly extended, it is worth it, since in this way we make it much more complicated for possible hackers who are interested in our account. access to it.

If you have decided on this security system, tell us what method you use of those that currently exist for two-step authentication and why you have chosen it on our social networks.