Important information may be compromised by a security threat, which could have detrimental effects on both a personal and professional level. Identity theft is one of these consequences, but it may be prevented. Theft of passports, identification documents, and other personal belongings increased by 29% between 2017 and 2018.
It can be quite challenging to completely recover from identity theft, so exercise caution when submitting private information online. Your confidential information can be further protected with a procedure as easy but sophisticated as SMS OTP.
Security of Websites using OTP and 2FA
Website security is essential for protecting sensitive data for both individuals and organizations. It’s not always sufficient to employ single-factor authentication alone, particularly when it involves a username and password combination.
Nine out of ten passwords are vulnerable to hacking, even if they contain special characters, digits, and capital and lowercase letters.
Over 14.7 billion data breaches have occurred since 2013, which translates to an average of 4,358 data records being lost or stolen per minute. Some employees only create one or a few unique passwords since they open and use more than 20 applications during the workday. A company may be at risk of hacking as a result.
What are your options, then?
Confidential company accounts that may be at risk are protected by blocking fraudulent activity and utilizing an accessible 2FA. In particular, the most well-known companies in the world, such as banks, insurance, financial services, retail, and social entrepreneurship sectors, now employ SMS OTP as the primary web protocol for data security.
Additionally, since more than 90% of folks always have their cell phone handy, it’s quick, simple, and available.
Online identity theft: what is it?
The act of stealing and utilizing someone else’s identity is known as online identity theft. It is typically utilized for monetary purposes, such as gaining access to bank accounts, acquiring credit cards or loans, and possibly damaging a person’s credit score. Additionally, it can be used to plot and carry out criminal activities, apply for government assistance, and try to harm someone’s reputation by making them feel uncomfortable or misrepresenting them.
How?
A person can obtain personal information through fraud, utilize it for their own gain, and/or harm the reputation of another person.
Typical techniques for identity theft consist of:
Phishing is the practice of being duped by someone posing as a reliable source and requesting that you validate your information (for instance, a person posing as a bank employee).
Hacking is when ransomware, malware, or payment redirection schemes take advantage of security flaws in your computer.
Scams involving remote access: someone taking over your computer and defrauding you of money for a service that isn’t essential (for instance, a dishonest “support” team member persuading you to buy software to “fix” your computer or internet when it isn’t necessary).
Fake online profiles: Phishing accounts on dating and social networking platforms have the ability to send friend requests, obtain your personal information, or hack your profile and present you in an inaccurate manner.
Although victims typically bear the expense, there are ways to avoid this occurring to you with the use of sophisticated security measures. Protecting personal information and login credentials online is essential to preventing identity theft. In order to protect your personal information, an SMS OTP is required when gaining access to it.
OTP: What is it?
By using Two Factor Authentication (2FA or TFA) to verify identification, One-Time Passwords (OTP) provide an extra degree of protection. To confirm who is attempting to do an operation, such as logging in or approving a payment online, time-sensitive, automatic, and unique passwords are sent.
Since SMS OTP is an offline identity verification method, it is particularly useful. For instance, SMS OTP improves online safety by adding a supplementary factor to prevent hackers and robots from accessing your account after you provide your primary login information, such as your username and password combination.
Another example is to online shopping and payment confirmation. After completing the online purchasing process, including selecting a payment and shipping option, an SMS OTP is delivered to the buyer’s phone to verify their identity before the transaction is approved.
Businesses and websites can send dependable SMS OTP to users and consumers as needed by utilizing an SMS server gateway. sending text messages with one-time, computer-generated passwords to enable two-factor authentication. This enables users to quickly and effectively verify their identification by manually entering it before proceeding.
2FA
Two-factor authentication is a preventative technique that uses two authentication processes before allowing access to protect data. It falls under the category of multi-factor authentication.
Three categories comprise the requirements for identity verification:
Something you know: data stored in your memory, like a password, PIN, or response to a question unique to you (e.g., “What was the name of your first teacher?”).
Something you own, such a physical item like a pass or key card, or a soft token like an SMS login code texted to your phone
Something that you are: A user-specific physical characteristic, like an iris scan or a biometric fingerprint pattern
Entering a username and password combination that the user has committed to memory is typically the first of the most popular requirements for using two forms of authentication. Due to its ease of use and the availability of contemporary password-cracking tools, it is also susceptible to hacking as a universal method of gaining access to sensitive data.
After the first element has been verified, the second factor typically takes the form of entering a question unique to the user, something you own, or something you are. Any additional access or procedures are denied if the first step of 2FA has been authorized but the second step has not. This implies that if the second factor is not completed, the person or robot attempting to do the activity cannot proceed.
Permission is given when a special, one-time passcode is submitted as 2FA within the brief allotted time. An extremely quick, safe, and simple method of completing 2FA that lowers the risk of fraud is SMS OTP.