Authentication

Types of Authentication - Halock

Authentication is a tool used to ensure that only the intended parties are able to access something and to validate any requests. Over the years, there have been many forms of authentication. For example, a certain seal verified that the person who sent the letter was actually who they said they were. We use authentication every day even in the simplest tasks. Phones either have an n-digit pin to unlock them, a touch-id, or a face-id. In the digital world, authentication is the first line of defense (1). There are many different types of authentications, and it usually follows that the easiest types of authentications are the least secure.

One common method of authentication is passwords. Passwords are used to secure almost every type of online account like an email account. The key to protecting your accounts well with passwords is to choose a strong one. While longer and stronger passwords are hard to remember, especially if you use a different one for each account, they are more beneficial in the long run. With technology becoming more efficient, it is becoming easier to weed out accounts with simpler passwords. Passwords are a type of single-factor authentication. This type of authentication is a method that only requires one independent way to identify someone.

On the other hand, there is multi-factor authentication which requires more than one way to identify someone. While passwords may still be a part of the authentication process, there is still an extra step. Codes generated from this person’s phone, biometrics, or captchas are all examples of extra steps. This type of authentication can be more secure than single factor authentication but can hinder the user if they lose their phone or are unable to complete multiple steps.

Single-factor and multi-factor authentication are mostly used to identify a user. Certificate-based authentication can be used to identify not only users, but machines and devices. Based on physical identification forms like a workplace id, a digital certificate contains the ownership of a public key. These certificates are mainly used to login to a server which verifies the certificate and then associates it with the right private key. Similarly, token-based authentication allows someone to enter their credentials and receive a unique string or characters which is the token in this case.

There are many types of authentications, and some are relatively more secure than others. While the highest security levels of authentication are reserved for government usage or company databases, we can protect our accounts by keeping our passwords strong and enabling multi-factor authentication on our accounts.

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References:

1. https://www.sailpoint.com/identity-library/authentication-methods-used-for-network-security/
2. https://www.idrnd.ai/5-authentication-methods-that-can-prevent-the-next-breach/

This article was originally published at the Teach-Technology Organization, Inc. online technology blog. I volunteer as a tech blog writer at this organization, which is dedicated to bridging the gap between seniors and technology. You can read this article (and many more) at the Teach Technology site.