todennusvälineitä

Todennusvälineitä, known in English as authentication factors or authentication methods, are the pieces of evidence used to verify a user's identity during a login process. They are fundamental to information security, ensuring that only authorized individuals can access systems and data.

There are three primary categories of todennusvälineitä. The first category is something the user knows, such as a password, a PIN, or a security question answer. This relies on the user's memory. The second category is something the user possesses, like a physical security token, a smartphone receiving a one-time code via SMS or an authenticator app, or a smart card. This requires the user to have a specific item. The third category is something the user is, which refers to biometric data. Examples include fingerprint scans, facial recognition, or iris scans. This leverages unique biological characteristics.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security practice that requires the use of two or more different authentication factors. By combining factors from different categories, MFA significantly increases the security of an account, as compromising a single factor is insufficient to gain unauthorized access. For instance, using a password (something you know) and a one-time code from a mobile app (something you possess) constitutes a common form of MFA. The effectiveness of todennusvälineitä lies in their ability to create layers of security, making it much more difficult for malicious actors to impersonate legitimate users.