Two-Step Verification Vs. Two-Factor Authentication

With the increasing number of hacks and the stories about credentials and important data of several banks, websites and other services being compromised every day, it is becoming a prime concern to increase the credibility of the security provided by the companies online. Increasing user authentication is definitely a cost issue that cannot be taken lightly.

 

How Do Both The Technologies Differ From Each Other?

The typical user authentication method we all have been using since the UNIX technology came up is popularly known as the Two-Step Verification. In the first step, the user provides its unique username and password that has been provided to the user. The next step is the additional step to finally authorize the user to the service in which an OTP is sent as a text message to the user’s phone number.

 

However, Two Factor Authentication is an extensive layer that makes up the ‘Multi-Factor Authentication’. The two factors must come under the following categories respectively. The first factor must be ‘something that only the user has’ and the subsequent factor must be ‘something that only the user must know’.

 

Using Independent Credentials

Two-step Verification is an additive procedure. Once the user has to independently authenticate using one credential, which is a password and then in the next step the user has to again authenticate itself with another independent credential, which can be an SMS text message to the registered mobile number, which should be used as a One Time Password (OTP).

 

But Two-factor Authentication is a multiplicative procedure. In this technology, one independent credential is combined with another completely independent credential. This combination finally is used to derive a single and a much stronger credential than those independent credentials entered by the user.

 

The credentials used in Two Step Verification are far simple and easily accessible. The credentials are:

• ·         username and password
• ·         Along with the OPT sent to the registered mobile network.

 

The credentials used in Two Factor Authentication can be several things. For first factor, one can use:

• ·         a PIN
• ·         a secret key
• ·         a bio marker

For the second factor, one can use:

·

• a certificate
• a cryptography token code
  
  

Therefore, it can be concluded that two-step verification simply requires two distinct verification of one authentication factor, on the other hand two-factor authentication requires two credentials that come under different and independent categories.