Traditional password-and-username authentication can leave users vulnerable. In 2010 Christopher Chaney, a celebrity-obsessed cyber-stalker, got hold of a number of celebrity emails. Using data gleaned from social media and Wikipedia, he successfully guessed the passwords to over 50 personal email accounts belonging to famous women, including Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis, and Christina Aguilera. He had access to these accounts for almost a year, and he was responsible for posting nude photos of Scarlett Johanssen and several non-celebrity women. He has since been sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Almost everyone’s email address has been exposed online somewhere (luckily there are ways to find out if this has happened). And traditional password-based authentication is inherently insecure. Given these two facts, it’s essential to offer customers additional ways to protect their accounts.

Two-factor or multi-factor authentication (2FA or MFA) is an extra authentication method that’s becoming increasingly common. But just what are 2FA and MFA, and how can they help protect your customers?

Read more at – What Is Two-Factor or Multi-Factor Authentication?