Zerify Inc (ZRFY)

[KEEPIN-EYE]

Two-step verification

The Pew study netted a majority of incorrect answers to only one question: 71% didn’t identify the one screenshot out of four showing two-step verification, also called “two-factor authentication.”

Only one in 10 respondents correctly chose the image showing a site requesting a one-time code sent to you to verify a login. The others thought an image of a CAPTCHA test (where you type in scrambled words to prove you’re not a robot), a security question or a previously-chosen security image represented two-step verification at work.

That explains why 52% of respondents in a previous Pew survey reported that they used two-step verification, a figure I found implausibly high at the time: They didn’t know what it was.

It also exhibits a dangerous lack of comprehension — for which much of the blame has to go to companies that have advertised these other things as two-step verification. United Airlines (UAL), for instance, described last year’s addition of security questions to its login routine as “two-factor authentication.”

Setting up real two-step verification does involve a little work upfront (and can entail extra labor if you change phones or reset yours), but it’s the single best thing you can do to upgrade your security because it means an attacker with your password still can’t get into your accounts. Will you please enable that now for your email and Facebook (FB) accounts?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/internet-security-215507003.html