Google Authenticator for multi-factor authentication

The security-conscious will tell you that a multi-factor authentication scheme involves requiring items from two or more of the categories "things you know," "things you have," and "things you are." Passwords and passphrases both fall under the "things you know" umbrella, and while there are commercially viable options for the latter two categories — security dongles and biometric fingerprint scanners, for example — neither have taken off with the general public. Google Authenticator is a project that allows the use of a smartphone to serve as a "thing you have"; subscribers can click below for a look at that project from this week's edition.

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