What is 3FA?
3FA, or Three-factor authentication, is a highly secure way to identify someone to log in, sign up, or complete a transaction online or via mobile.
How is 3FA used?
As its name suggests, 3FA goes one step further than 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) by including a biometric element in the identification mix.
3FA combines something you know (your password) with something you have (your mobile phone) and something you are (your fingerprint) to help stop fraudsters in their tracks.
What are the benefits of 3FA?
Security is top of mind for anyone accessing accounts or making transactions online, or at least it should be!
Sadly, there are folks out there who make a living from fraud, identity theft, and stolen passwords, so putting steps in place to add security, boost confidence, and reduce the chance of identity theft is critical.
FAQs
3FA requires users to present three identifying factors before accessing an account, app, or system. This knowledge factor could involve something the user knows (password), something the user has (a used mobile phone or device), and something the user is (biometric data).
What is 3 factor authentication 3FA? ›
Three-factor authentication (3FA) is the use of identity-confirming credentials from three separate categories of authentication factors -- typically, the knowledge, possession and inherence categories.
What is the 3 factor authentication method? ›
As its name suggests, 3FA goes one step further than 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) by including a biometric element in the identification mix. 3FA combines something you know (your password) with something you have (your mobile phone) and something you are (your fingerprint) to help stop fraudsters in their tracks.
What is a 3FA? ›
Three-factor authentication (3FA) is a security process that requires users to provide three distinct forms of identification, typically including something they know (password), something they have (security token), and something they are (biometric authentication).
How to setup 3FA? ›
How Does 3FA Work?
- Initialize the login and provide a password (Knowledge Factor)
- Launch a separate authenticator app on a mobile device, but it has to scan your fingerprint to open (Inherence Factor)
- Generate a one-time code from the app and input it into the system (Possession Factor)
This includes governmental agencies, healthcare institutions, government agencies, and financial firms. However, any organization bolstering its cybersecurity posture can benefit from implementing 3FA.
What is Type 3 authentication method? ›
Type 3 – Something You Are – includes any part of the human body that can be offered for verification, such as fingerprints, palm scanning, facial recognition, retina scans, iris scans, and voice verification.
What are the 3 most common authentication factors? ›
The three authentication factors are something you know, something you have, and something you are. See authenticator.
What are the three forms of MFA? ›
Three Main Types of MFA Authentication Methods
Things you know (knowledge), such as a password or PIN. Things you have (possession), such as a badge or smartphone. Things you are (inherence), such as a biometric like fingerprints or voice recognition.
What is the MFA code? ›
MFA requires the user to input their existing password. Then, with a second authentication factor enabled, they will enter a time-based, one-time (OTP/TOTP), six-digit passcode generated by an authorized third-party authentication application that expires after 30 seconds.
Authentication Assurance Level 3. AAL3 provides very high confidence that the claimant controls authenticators that are bound to the subscriber account. Authentication at AAL3 is based on the proof of possession of a key through the use of a cryptographic protocol along with either an activation factor or a password.
What is Level 3 authentication? ›
Level 3 requires multi-factor authentication with at least 2 tokens. Proof of possession of the tokens through a cryptographic protocol is required for authentication.
What is 3 point authentication? ›
3 factor authentication involves integrating multiple factors to validate the user's identity including: Something the user knows (username/password) Something the user has (hardware token) Something the user is (biometric data)
What is an example of 3FA authentication? ›
3FA: Example 1. Your password is qwerty and you have a YubiKey Bio security key. You use these two authentication methods together to log in to your account. Incidentally, YubiKey Bio is a security key that supports fingerprinting, which satisfies two authentication factors: something you have and something you are.
What is the difference between MFA and 3FA? ›
MFA: Offers robust security by incorporating multiple verification factors. 3FA: Provides the highest level of security with three distinct verification factors.
What are the three requirements for authentication? ›
There are three authentication factors that can be used: something you know, something you have, and something you are. Something you know would be a password, a PIN, or some other personal information.
