The Future of Two Factor Authentication

2FA is not a new concept, indeed the example of ‘lock and key’ is an illustration of long this system has been available and has been in the main a successful method of keeping property secure. 2FA technology will continue to develop and consequently continue to be used because systems and data must be kept secured. While it sometimes acknowledged that having to use a smart card or bank card can be cumbersome simply because users will have to carry a smart card reader, the likelihood is that other tokens or methods of verifying the identify of an individual will be developed.

One such system that is sometimes adopted is by the use of a mobile phone application or ‘App’ but the ability to run applications of this kind can be difficult bearing in mind the vast range of phones and mobile operating systems. The biggest potential issue is being able to support such systems unless organisations standardise on one system. Another more pragmatic approach is to use SMS or texts to send a user a pass-code.

The fact remains that criminals will continue to find ways of circumnavigating passwords and other methods of securing networks and information. The rewards that can be attained are potentially enormous and the damage caused can be catastrophic to any organisations. Passwords are easy to ‘crack’, ‘hack’ or break into simply by criminals guessing or using other methods (e.g. malware, phishing, key logging ) to illegally gain access to a network or system.