Authy OneTouch Offers New Way to Use 2 Factor Authentication

The developers of Authy have come up with a new and user-friendly service, OneTouch, that will be identity authentication made easy.  All that is required of the user is to swipe once and authentication is complete — no code or password required.

Also read: Blockstream Developer Rusty Russell Proposes New Bitcoin Address System

Authy Eliminates SMS Overhead

The application works by first sending you a push notification that then gives you the option to swipe to either accept or deny access, and that’s it. This is in contrast to the usual means traditionally employed by 2-factor authentication security platforms.

Often, 2-factor authentication makes use of smartphones to send a code via text or SMS message, such as with Google Authenticator. Providing this code and a traditional password is a common form of 2-step verification, which can not only be a hassle to provide every single time but could be costly too. In this way, the Authy OneTouch application can be cheaper for people to use than other verification platforms because it eliminates SMS overhead. It’s a fairly simple concept that could really streamline the usability and efficiency of 2-factor identity confirmation. Generally, there are 3 basic ways to authenticate an identity, with a computer, called means or factors of authentication. These factors are: something you know (password), something you possess (I.D. card or phone), or something you are (biometric).

Some security authentication processes rely on at least two of these factors to confirm an identity.  An even easier way of understanding this is when someone uses an ATM machine; in order to to get money out of the ATM, a person must present something they possess (debit card), alongside something they know in the form of their pin number.

The user-friendliness of the application could especially be of interest to those in the Bitcoin community because 2FA is enforced among many Bitcoin apps. One very well-known example of this is the 2FA login employed by Coinbase, and an implication of this new OneTouch service could be to make selling and buying bitcoin on exchanges much faster and easier.

Two Factors, One Swipe

The burden of having to receive the SMS code, and subsequently having to copy and paste it every time you log in to your account will have been eliminated. Also, with OneTouch, users are more informed. When a user responds to a OneTouch request as part of a normal login, he just clicks on “Approve,”  but when he is not logging into his bitcoin account and gets a OneTouch request, then a user reads all the information that’s presented to him. Some information is provided to the user such as, what account is being accessed, or if there is a money transfer taking place, and where from and where to. All this information in a OneTouch request (which you don’t get in a normal 2FA step via SMS or an app generating a code) helps the end user understand what might be happening to their account.

Unfortunately, 1-step verification is still more popular than the 2-step variety, however, this may change with Authy’s OneTouch feature because it could make 2-step verification just as simple.

What do you think of the Authy OneTouch 2-step verification app? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Authy

Image Sources: 1,2,3, amlock.com.au

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