28.01.2020

The rapid advancement and development of technology offers great convenience in all aspects of our lives but also increases the risk of cyber threats.

And when it comes to protecting your business online, attending a security conference and listening to the experts in the field, as well as understanding the kinds of identity and authentication you can use for every login are crucial. Although most people understand that secure log-ins are important, they tend to get lost in various security measures and best identity and authentications methods.
So, here are the current best ways of identity and authentications.

Passwords

Identity And Authentication

Passwords are probably the oldest and most basic methods of identity and authentication. They have been there for the longest of time and holds the highest risks of all. Using password authentication has become more and more complicated since you will need to create not only one but several passwords with an average person using at least 25 different apps and websites.

And while you can create long passwords complete with various characters, letters, and numbers, you probably can’t remember all these. In addition, the process of cryptographically transforming your passwords by a website can be time-consuming, so not all websites are meticulous, making it easier for hackers to steal passwords.
Still, passwords act as the first layer of security. In order to strengthen identity and authentication protocols, passwords are most often paired with other authentication methods.

Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication acts as the second level of security. It can either be a code sent to your phone or generated on your device. It is also possible to generate this code on an external device.
However, this kind of authentication can be a problem when the users lose access to his phone card, SIM or even the device.

Biometric Authentication

This identity and authentication process relies on the biological characteristics unique to an individual in order to verify whether he is who he says he is. The major advantage of biometric authentication is that you will never lose or forget it.

Several kinds of biometrics identity and authentication include:

FACE IDENTIFICATION– scans and identify your face
FINGERPRINT SCANNING– probably the most common type of biometric authentication, this one resembles the ink-and-paper fingerprinting process
VOICE IDENTIFICATION– this one relies on the specific characteristics that are created by the shape of the user’s throat and mouth
IRIS RECOGNITION– probably the most recent biometric authentication available today, the goal of iris authentication is to identify people based on the distinctive patterns within the ring-shaped area surrounding the pupil of the user’s eye


What makes biometric authentication so reliable is that they cannot be cryptographically changes, meaning thus can’t be hashed. The problem is that biometric data can be challenging to use online since remotely reading biometric data can be quite difficult.

CAPTCHA Test

A type of Turing test, the main goal of CAPTCHAs is to make sure that you are not a robot. A user will be asked to perform some tasks which programs and bots cannot do. Such tests use various images or even MP3 audio recordings. While bots can identify the images or audio by reading its source code, they will not be able to understand what they mean.
CAPTCHAs come in different types with the most common having random combinations of numbers and letters in the picture, determining and entering the characters in the form.

Other kinds of CAPTCHA include:

I’m not a robot CAPTCHA – requires you to check a box
3D Super CAPTCHA – requires you to identify an image in 3D
Math CAPTCHA – requires you to solve a simple math problem
Marketing CAPTCHA – require you to type a specific phrase or word relate to the sponsor brand

⦁ Private and Public Key Pairs

This type of authentication is the major characteristic of asymmetric cryptography. Private and Public Key Pairs are mostly found in systems like Bitcoin, but it can also be easily used in most authentication systems as well.
In this kind of authentication, the private key of users can be stored on the device while the public one can be uploaded and stored on the service’s servers. Thus, you will be able to use the same key-pair for several services.

You will not need to transmit a password in order to log in but can create a signed message that specifies the details of the current login. Although, this can be limited to a few actions like accessing certain folders or some activities.

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