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by John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

Something You Have – Something You Know: Two-factor Authentication

October 23, 2014

Are passwords dead? Not yet, but perhaps very soon. The world is moving to two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication is something you know and something you have. Generally, this means a user ID/password and some sort of token. You may recognize two-factor as receiving a text message with a login code while trying to authenticate to your account. You enter your user ID and password and the authentication code you received on your phone via a text message.

Google has just implemented another way to implement two-factor authentication. Instead of getting an authentication code via text message, you can insert a USB security key to complete the logon. For now, it only works with Google Chrome version 38 or newer and of course you need a USB port. I think this is where we are heading for the next generation of logins. Two-factor authentication will become a requirement for access and it won’t be biometrics.

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