It may not make it impossible to break in, but it will make it more difficult. And so on.ĢFA is like adding a dead-bolt to a door which already has a lock.

Now substitute for “worst enemy”: former employer, former romantic partner who may be unhappy about the end of the relationship and want to mess with your life, secret government agent, rogue teenagers bored on Spring Break, malicious hacker group from across the globe which just managed to compromise a large website’s security. Without that, even having your password wouldn’t let them access your account. If your email account is protected by 2FA, having your username and password wouldn’t be enough, they would also need to get ahold of your iPhone (or iPad, or Mac, or whatever other device you use for 2FA). They could get into your email, reset your passwords across the Internet, and generally make your life miserable. “Ok, but why do I want to use 2FA anyway?”Īssume your worst enemy managed to get ahold of the username and password that you use for email. While it may be frustrating to people who are highly fluent in the various differences between those three things, my point is only to say that you can accomplish exactly the same thing using Google Authenticator or Authy or 1Password with a large and growing number of websites which all may use slightly different terminology to describe what is basically (for most people most of the time) the same thing. Someone might be able to get your username or password, but they should only be able to get that third thing if they have unfettered access to your Mac or iOS device right now.” That “third thing” is what is most people mean most of the time when they are talking about “Two-Factor Authentication”, “Two-Step Verification”, or “Time-based One Time Passwords”.

If you want to understand more about the differences, read AgileBits’ article TOTP for 1Password users, specifically the section named “Second factor? No.”įor the purposes of this article, they are all going to huddle together under the umbrella of “2FA” with this as a functional definition: “You have a username plus a password plus a third thing. What I mean is that while they are not technically identical they are functionally the same thing. I won’t spend a lot of time on this, but just as a quick summary: for most people in most situations most of the time, the terms “Two-Factor Authentication”, “Two-Step Verification”, and “Time-based One Time Passwords” can be treated as being equivalent. “What’s ‘Two-Factor Authentication’? Is it the same as ‘Two-Step Verification’? And are they the same as ‘Time-based One Time Passwords’?” (Spoiler Alert: it was easier than I expected, and I already like it more than Authy, despite having really liked Authy.) There are a few “tips and tricks” which can makes the transition a little easier. If that describes you, well, then you’re in luck, because I just completed the switch and I’m here to report my results. You may have wondered how much of a hassle it would be to change from one app to another, and if it would be worth it. If you have been using Google Authenticator or Authy for two-step verification (“2FA” for short), you may have wondered whether you should switch to 1Password, now that it offers the same functionality.

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