Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Typically MFA is something you have (physical possession), along with something you know (secret) or something you are (biometric).

This is more abstract than physical possession of a single device with a non-exfiltratable private key. There are synchronization processes (so its one of many physical devices, on a sync fabric which allows devices to be added).

The process for adding a device should require multiple factors as well, but I believe there ultimately is a typically a recovery mechanism like a printed recovery key which would make this considered single-factor.

However, most deployed 2FA is via SMS, email, or backed-up TOTP today. The goal is to build a much more secure system that is recoverable enough to get consumer adoption, not to try to achieve say NIST 800-63 AAL3.

One ongoing proposal is that you get an additional device-bound factor as well. Seeing a new device-bound factor would let you decide to do additional user verification checks if desired.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: