Staying Secure with Token-Based Multi-Factor Authentication

It is standard security best practice to utilize multi-factor authentication as an additional layer of security when logging into any accounts that house identifiable information. With multi-factor authentication, logging in requires both an email address or user name and password and a randomly generated one-use token that is unique and available only to you.

Token-Based vs. SMS-Based Authentication

Token-based and SMS-based authentication are two of the most popular forms of the second step in the two-step authentication process.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has recommended the deprecation of SMS authentication as your second form of authentication, as it has been proven that tokens sent via SMS can be intercepted.

Thus, multi-factor authentication best practice for staying secure is the use of token-based authentication. Authentication apps such as Google Authenticator will provide you with a secure six-digit authentication code.

Additional Resources

Alert Logic® provides optional multi-factor authentication for login into the Alert Logic console. To learn more, see our Multi-Factor Authentication for Alert Logic Console Log-In knowledge base article.