In a world where major security breaches happen every day and scammers lurk around every corner, what’s the average internet user to do? Unfortunately, simply using strong passwords isn’t enough anymore. Even complex and hard-to-guess passwords aren’t a bulletproof form of security because they can be scooped up pretty easily by a variety of methods.
Instead, what you really need is a second way to verify yourself. That’s why many internet services (some of which have felt the pinch of being hacked or breached) offer multi-factor authentication (MFA). We used to call it two-factor authentication (2FA), but it goes by many different names that are often used interchangeably, with “multi-step,” “two-step,” and “verification. ”
As PCMag’s Lead Security Analyst Neil J. Rubenking puts it, “There are three generally recognized factors for authentication: something you know (such as a password), something you have (such as a hardware token or cell phone), and something you are (such as your fingerprint). Two-factor means the system is using two of these options.” Multi-factor means you might even use more than two.
Biometric scanners for fingerprints, retinas, or faces are on the upswing thanks to innovations such as Apple’s Face ID and Windows Hello. But in most cases, the extra authentication is simply a numeric string: a few digits sent to your phone as a code that can be used only once.
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