What does ”MFA” mean?
summary
MFA often means different things in practice: chip-and-PIN works as true two-factor, U2F prevents verifiers being crackable, TOTP/push use a shared long-term secret and can be configured so second factor is optional, and services like Dropbox adopt TOTP to stop password reuse attacks. Surprises: SMS or push used for password reset lets attackers hijack accounts, enabling takeover without the password; enabling 2FA can encourage weaker master passwords in password managers and offers no protection if the device or server is already compromised.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (8)
- 0:00Start
- 9:52Modern password problems
- 11:18Mutual authentication
- 12:42Strong and unique long term secrets
- 14:39Useful properties
- 17:47Bewitched
- 18:44Chip & PIN
- 30:22Weakening the weakest
