What is two-factor authentication?

- We trust passwords way too much. It seemed like a great way of authenticating users, but in reality they're just strings of text often sent over the internet and stored in databases. An internet is an information distribution platform. Meaning access to stored passwords is quite literally just a stolen or cracked password away. Sobering reality check. Passwords are not secure and cannot be trusted. They're simply too easy to guess or steal or hack, which means someone could get access to my password and use it to pretend to be me. What we need is some additional way of making sure the person using the password actually has the authority to use that password. We need two factors of authentication, a password and something else. And that something could be another password. The laptop is locked, using a password and to add extra security I lock it in a briefcase with a combination lock, very convenient and practical. Now this solution works, but we're still dealing with passwords…