Multi-factor Authentication and Their Approaches

Abstract

A multi-factor authentication is an approach to authentication which requires the presentation of two or more of the three authentication factors: a knowledge factor ("something the user knows"), a possession factor ("something the user has"), and an inherence factor ("something the user is"). Two-factor authentication seeks to decrease the probability that the requestor is presenting false evidence of its identity. In reality, there are more variables to consider when establishing the relative assurance of truthfulness in an identity assertion than simply how many "factors" are used. The U.S. Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council issued supplemental guidance on this subject in August 2006, in which they clarified, "By definition true multifactor authentication requires the use of solutions from two or more of the three categories of factors