Two factor authentication (2FA) and
three factor authentication (3FA) can drastically reduce the
frequency of online identity theft and other online fraud due to
the victim's password no longer being sufficient to give an
attacker access to their information.
Both Public Key Infrastructures (PKI)
and One Time Passwords (OTP) introduce a second factor in to the
authentication process. It is the introduction of this second
factor that increases the security of the authentication
process.
When referring to authentication, a
factor is a piece of information used to verify a person's identity
for security purposes. The three most commonly recognized
factors are:-
-
'Something you know', such as a
password or PIN
-
'Something you have', such as a
credit card or hardware token
-
'Something you are', such as a
fingerprint, a retinal pattern or other biometric