I'm trying to implement 2 factor authentication on the cheap. How would I do that?

Posted by Biff MaGriff on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Biff MaGriff
Published on 2010-05-12T21:28:35Z Indexed on 2010/05/12 21:34 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 210

Filed under:

authentication

|

security

Ok so I need 2 of the 3.

Something the user knows.
Something the user has.
Something the user is.

I have a system that is exposed to the internet and we need clients to connect in a secure manner to satisfy our security standards.

I'm thinking when a user registers to use our system we send them an application that they install on their home system. The application generates a key based on a timed randomness algorithm. Our application server has the same algorithm so when the user submits their credentials with the key we know that they are a legitimate user.

Is this a valid method of 2 factor authentication?

What is another way of doing this?

Are there any pitfalls that I should be aware of?

Thanks for your help!

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about authentication

Configuring Fed Authentication Methods in OIF / IdP

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
In this article, I will provide examples on how to configure OIF/IdP to map OAM Authentication Schemes to Federation Authentication Methods, based on the concepts introduced in my previous entry. I will show examples for the three protocols supported by OIF: SAML 2.0 SSO SAML… >>> More
windows authentication vs sql server authentication for asp.net forms authentication site

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a database and a site having forms authentication. It is working fine with VS2008. This time, I am using "Trusted_connection =True". But when it is opened from outside or directly from browser then I am getting error "Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON'." I know this is due… >>> More
Disable authentication on subfolder(s) of an ASP.NET app using windows authentication

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, Is it possible to disable windows authentication on one or more subfolders of an ASP.net application using windows authentication? >>> More
AutoCompleteExtender - authentication failure (forms authentication)

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm using the AutoCompleteExtender from the AJAX control toolkit on my aspx page - I have it wired up to a WCF service that is returning a string array and everything works happily. If I change my service definition to include a demand for the caller to be authenticated, like so: <OperationContract()… >>> More
Ruby on Rails , functionalities having twitter authentication and email authentication (autlogic and

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi Experts, I would like to ask your guidance on how to authenticate using email add/ the basic log-in while having also a twitter log-in, twitter authentication works fine but if having an alternative log-in like using basic sign-up and email log-in part wont work.... any ideas please...? >>> More

Related posts about security

sudo apt-get update errors

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
Here is what I get on my terminal when running sudo apt-get update errors. I dont know if the issue is from my sources.list or my proxy setup(have not made any changes to proxies). Thank you for any help in advanced. Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security Release.gpg Ign http://security… >>> More
The Security-Developer Gap: Why IT Security Can't Fix Your Security Problems Alone

as seen on Devx - Search for 'Devx'
Two well-known white hats explain how hackers take advantage of security holes left by enterprise application developers. >>> More
The Security-Developer Gap: Why IT Security Can't Fix Your Security Problems Alone

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Two well-known white hats explain how hackers take advantage of security holes left by enterprise application developers. >>> More
StackOverFlowError while creating Mac object on AS400/Java

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hello all, I am a newbie to AS400-Java programming. I am trying to create my first program to test the implementation of Message Authentication Code (MAC). I am trying to use the HMACSHA1 hash function. My (Java 1.4) program runs fine on a dev box (V5R4).But fails terribly on the QA box (V5R3). My… >>> More
Google App Engine - Spring Security Issue (java.security.AccessControlException)

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm currently getting the AccessControlException below when I deploy to app engine (I don't see it when I run in my local environment). I'm using GAE 1.3.1, Spring 3.0.1, and Spring Security 3.0.2. Any ideas how to get around this issue? It appears to be an issue with Spring Security trying to get… >>> More