Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication proves control of two or more distinct factor types, such as a password and a security key. It makes stolen passwords less useful, but its strength depends on the authenticators, enrollment, recovery, and protection against phishing.
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Intro
Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication, or MFA, asks for evidence from more than one distinct factor type before a service grants access. The usual factor types are knowledge, possession, and inherence.
A password is knowledge. A phone, hardware token, or security key is possession. A biometric comparison is inherence. Two passwords are two steps, but they are still only knowledge. They do not make MFA.
MFA reduces the harm from a stolen password. It does not make an account impossible to take over. An attacker can still trick a user into relaying a code, flood a phone with approval prompts, steal a session, or abuse a weak recovery process.
Think in authentication paths
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