How to set up Two-Factor Authentication
This guide will walk you through the process of setting up two-factor authentication for your Intelligence Fusion account.
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# Why Two-Factor?
How can we know that the people around us are who they say that they are? In the real world, we assume people’s identities based on what we can see. When we get to know people well, usually they feel increasingly comfortable divulging further amounts of information to us.
If you want to be absolutely sure somebody is who they say they are, you can ask to see documentation like a driver’s license or passport to validate their identity. This is fine for proving validity in the real-world, but how do we confirm authenticity online, by mail or by telephone when these real-world options are simply not possible?
Multi-factor authentication is a method of making sure that we can validate the authenticity of another person’s identity remotely. To increase the security of a person’s data that can be accessed digitally, the provider can ask users to provide multiple pieces of evidence to act as authentication before providing access to important information.
These pieces of evidence (or “factors”) include knowledge (something only the authorised person knows), possession (something only the authorised person has in their physical presence) or an inherent characteristic (something the authorised user physically is, such as a fingerprint or facial scan). Some argue that you can also consider location as a further possible factor (somewhere that the authorised user is located).
As a threat intelligence company, security is one of the fundamental concerns at Intelligence Fusion. We encourage all users of our web platform to enable two-factor authentication if they can. This will make sure that you, and only you, can access your Intelligence Fusion account.
The two-factors that we currently use to verify your identity in our web platform are a password that is tied to your user account and also an additional device-specific time-limited code called a ‘one-time password’.
# Requirements
You will need:
- An active Intelligence Fusion account
- A secondary device which allows for the creation of one-time passwords.
- If you do not have a secondary device, you can use your registered email address to recieve one-time passwords
This guide will explain how to set up two-factor authentication using a mobile phone or tablet as your secondary device, but there are also dedicated one-time password hardware devices that you can use instead if you prefer. We will also cover setting up two-factor authentication with your email if you cannot use a secondary device.
# Setup
To enable two-factor authentication, you will first need to attempt to login to your Intelligence Fusion account.
You will enter the setup phase of the login journey.
# App Based
To begin the set up process, make sure you have an authenticator application installed on your secondary device. We recommend Google Authenticator for your smartphone or tablet but many other options are available from the app store of your choice.
Once you have this ready, press the ‘Enable two-factor authentication’ button to begin.
You will now be presented with a barcode to scan with your secondary device. Alternatively if your secondary device does not allow for the scanning of barcodes, you can manually type in the 16-character sequence provided instead.
Follow the instructions for the authenticator application on your secondary device. Once either option is confirmed, your secondary device will provide you with a six-digit one-time password. This one-time password regenerates every 30 seconds, so it won’t always be the same.
Enter the one-time password provided by your secondary device into the text field and press ‘Enable’.
At this point, two-factor authentication has now been successfully set up. You will need access to the authenticator application on your secondary device each time that you want to login.
# Email Based
If you do not have access to a secondary device, you can use email based two-factor authentication. This will use your accounts registered email address to recieve one-time passwords instead of using ones generated by an app.
To begin the setup process, press the ‘I want to use email instead’ button.
Enter the one-time password that you will recieve from us via email and press ‘Enable’. If you run out of time or do not recieve an email, press the ‘Request another code’ button to try again.
The final step of the process presents you with the option to view your ‘Recovery Code’. Press the ‘Show Recovery Code’ button to see your recovery code.
It is important to make a note of this recovery code somewhere safe.
Unfortunately, we will only show you your recovery code once – so keep it secret and keep it safe. Once you have copied the recovery code and saved it somewhere else, or written it down on a piece of paper, press the ‘Login’ button to proceed.
# Logging in
Now that two-factor authentication has been enabled, when you try to login to Intelligence Fusion with your standard email and password combination, you will also be prompted to enter a one-time password before access to the application is provided. This authentication code is the six-digit number given by your secondary device that refreshes every 30 seconds.
Alternatively, if you lose your secondary device, or it is otherwise unavailable to you, you can also login with your recovery code that was provided during the setup process.
# Disabling two-factor authentication
To disable two-factor authentication, you will need to login to your Intelligence Fusion account and then find your way back to the ‘Two-factor Authentication’ tab in the user settings menu. Simply press the ‘Disable two-factor authentication’ button to disable. This will log you out in order to set up Two-factor Authentication as it’s required to access the platform.