In today's digital age, the security of our online accounts is paramount. We've all heard about two-factor identification, but do we really understand how it works and its importance? Let's talk about its operation and why it is essential to protect our accounts.
How do we identify ourselves online?
With a username and password, easy, right? But… why? The username is what really identifies us; in our day-to-day, in general, we use our name. Since our name is not unique (someone else can have the same), most entities grant us an identifier that they generate. The government provides us with the ID, the bank with the IBAN (International Bank Account Number), the library with a membership card, and so on.
This is the simple part, knowing who is who. Now we're going to have to prove it. When we enter a physical store where, for example, we're going to pick up the laundry we left an hour ago, we give our name, and the person recognizes us by our appearance, that's our demonstration or proof of identity. If necessary, they can ask us for a document from a recognized entity, such as our ID. With this pair of elements, identification and demonstration, we can go practically everywhere.
What is so easy day-to-day becomes quite complicated if we move it to the internet. How does Apple know who we are? Easy, we tell them: [email protected]. And how do we prove it? With our password. A password that, if we do it right, only we should know, no one else, and also be complex enough so that no one can guess it. The theory is simple, the practice is more complex.
Where does the system fail?
Although it may seem a secure system, the reality is that it has some flaws. Often, the passwords we choose are similar or even identical across different platforms. Moreover, they can leak due to programming errors on the servers, leaving our data exposed.
In such scenarios, anyone could impersonate us, with consequences ranging from mild to catastrophic.
Improving the password, adding a factor
This is where two-factor authentication comes in. By adding a second factor, the security level of our accounts is elevated. Imagine that, in addition to our name, the laundry asks us for a receipt they gave us earlier.
That's precisely what the second factor does: it requires not only something we know (our password) but also something we have (like a PIN or a code generated on a trusted device).
Apple's two-factor system
Taking Apple as an example, with two-factor authentication activated, a code is generated on our trusted devices every time we want to access our account. Therefore, even if someone has our password —something that should prompt us to immediately change our Apple ID password—, they won't be able to access the account without that code.
Two-factor identification is much more than just an additional step when logging in. It's an essential layer of protection that makes unauthorized access to our accounts more difficult. By adopting this measure, we ensure greater security for our digital information. And it's as easy to activate as going to the Settings app on our iPhone, tapping our name, entering Sign in and security, and enabling the corresponding option. A setting that completely changes the security of our Apple ID (which we can create from any device).
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