Physical Security: Multi-Factor Authentication
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Physical Security: Multi-factor Authentication

Information Security Professiona
For most of us in America, some time during 2007 the process for accessing our online bank or brokerage account changed. Perhaps we were asked to select and answer from a pool of questions such as, "What color was your first car?" Or we may have been asked to choose a unique and memorable picture which then became associated with our login. And there may even be a strange phrase like "Awkward Aardvark" below the picture. As we move to a world where we perform an increasing number of normal, adult tasks--shopping, banking, buying movie tickets--online, our online identities take on real significance. In short, proving that you really are who you claim you are will become more critical in the (not-all-that-distant) future. Biometrics and multi-factor authentication are two technologies which can help improve the security of that process. Both bridge the disciplines of physical and technical security, especially since both can be used for physical and logical access control.
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