Hardware for two-factor authentication

A 2-factor authentication is, as the name suggests, an identification through the combination of two different factors. This is familiar, for example, when withdrawing money from an ATM: This only works by means of a bank card (factor 1) and the associated PIN number (factor 2). One factor alone is ineffective. And this 2-factor authentication is a good way to protect your online accounts from unauthorized access.

Logging into digital user accounts via user name and password is no longer considered secure today. Almost all leading online platforms therefore offer the option of logging in with an additional component. The time-based one-time password procedure, or TOTP for short, is usually used for this purpose. Many providers integrate their customers’ smartphones for this purpose and provide an authenticator app. However, smartphones only have a low level of security, so the TOTP can easily be spied out.

The biggest advantage of two-factor authentication is that stolen credentials are not enough to gain access to a password-protected system or account. To gain full access to the account or files, you need the second factor. The safest way is to use an external one-time password generator.

The so-called two-factor authentication (2FA) is an essential contribution to the protection of the user account against misuse and identity theft. The reason: If the user name and password should ever fall into the wrong hands, criminals still cannot compromise the account because they lack the other components. The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) therefore expressly recommends the use of a 2FA.

If the TOTP codes entered in your application can no longer be displayed, you can simply resynchronize the internal clock of the REINER SCT Authenticator via the REINER SCT synchronization page www.reiner-sct.com/sync. This will keep your Authenticator up to date for years.