*A cognitive fingerprint would combine various behaviors such as keystroke patterns, mouse use, sentence structure and use of language. The codes are in the app itself and expire quickly. An app is safer because it doesn’t rely on your carrier. For example, Microsoft Authenticator or Google Authenticator. “When SMS (texting) and voice protocols were developed, they were designed without encryption.What this means is that signals can be intercepted by anyone who can get access to the switching network or within the radio range of a device,” Weinert wrote. “I believe they’re the least secure** of the MFA methods available today,” Weinert wrote in a blog (via ZDNet). (What is typical MFA? It’s when, for example, a bank sends you a verification code via a text message.) MFA based on phones, aka publicly switched telephone networks or PSTN, is not secure, according to Weinert. Phone-based Multi-Factor Authentication isn’t secure either Passwords are ‘shared secrets’ that reside on both the device and on a server that, as we all know, can get hacked,” Synopsys said.īut Synopsys also adds this: If you make your passwords long and complicated, use a mixture of letters, symbols, and punctuation, periodically change your password, and don’t use the same password for more than one account, “you be an outlier (since the majority of users don’t do them)” i.e., you will be more secure than the vast majority of people. “Those recognition mechanisms are stored only on the user’s device. Solution for the above (an exhortation aimed more at tech companies than users): rely more on biometrics such as fingerprint (or a “cognitive fingerprint”*), voice, or face identification, according to Mountain View, Calif.-based Synopsys, which, among other things, is involved in software security. Risk: “works.people are curious or worried and ignore warning signs.”

i.e., fake emails - sometimes very authentic-looking - purportedly from a reputable company that you trust. Risk: “Sometimes 100s of thousands broken per day.

2 factor authentication microsoft