• Album@lemmy.ca
        3·
        6 months ago

        MFA is not necessarily only 2 factors and single factor is not necessarily a password.

        • Syn_Attck
          2·
          6 months ago

          Sucks that I have to preface but people can be jumpy here. This is genuine curiosity, I’m actually asking, because it’s really probably something I should already know. Can you explain the nuance to me please?

          My understanding, speaking mostly of apps/websites, I know jobs can be much different:

          Most places have the first factor as a password.

          First factor (or “login”) = username+password pair.

          For the longest time that was all there was, “your login” was just a login, which meant a username and password combination. Then 2FA/MFA (“2 factor authentication / multi-factor authentication”) came along in the form of username+password combo plus SMS/email/Google Authenticator/Yubikey/etc to verify as the 2nd form of authentication. You can have 3FA 4FA 5FA whatever if you want and if it’s supported by the app/website. So 2FA is MFA, but MFA is not necessarily 2FA.

          I know jobs can be set up a lot differently.

          • Album@lemmy.ca
            2·
            6 months ago

            Yeah, that’s basically right. With an opening line like mine (a formula), we’re basically dealing in typical reddit/lemmy pedanticism.

            I (somewhat ironically now) specifically chose the words MFA over 2fa when saying “mfa-1” as to be most encompassing from the get go because yes:

            • the truest definition of MFA is =>2
            • there are cases where the factors are multiple things you have and/or are (like private keys and pass keys, and biometrics)

            i do agree the 1st factor in a situation where its multiple factors is generally and common practice to be something you know.