e-Authentication Methods
Passwords and PINs based Authentication
Passwords and PINs are most commonly used in a knowledge-based ("something you know") authentication method. The longer the password, the stronger is the protection. A long password is sometimes called a pass-phrase. As a best practice for security, strong passwords that contain combinations of numbers, symbols, and mixed cases should be enabled as far as possible in an authentication system. In order to protect the passwords (and other authentication information) during the course of transmission, the Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Socket Layer (SSL) features, which can create an encrypted channel for data exchange, should also be enabled for the authentication systems.
Currently, most of the security attacks are targeting on password-based authentication systems. Cases have been reported of user IDs and passwords being stolen by fraudsters through phishing emails, fake websites, Trojan software and other malicious software. Since such attacks are focused on the end-user side, raising the awareness of user is very important so that they can protect their own interests in their daily transactions.
Unusual knowledge-based methods can also be adopted based on visual images (graphical password). One example is that a user is presented with a series of five randomly generated life-like faces and the user repeatedly picks out the faces from a series of grids filled with more faces. By picking the correct faces, the user has effectively typed in his password.
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