Understanding 2 Factor Authentication

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kdeemer
kdeemer
Community Member
edited September 2018 in Lounge

I've enabled 2FA for some of my logins. I don't understand how using 1Password as the authenticator provides any extra security. I thought that the point was to have the authenticator on a separate device, like my iPhone. Can someone explain?


1Password Version: 7.0.7
Extension Version: 4.7.3.90
OS Version: 10.13.6
Sync Type: 1Password
Referrer: forum-search:Understanding 2 Factor Authentication

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  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
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    @kdeemer: Well...hopefully you are using your phone as an authenticator instead of storing the two-factor for 1Password in 1Password. But to answer your question, the purpose of two-factor authentication is to be a second factor -- separate from your login credentials, username and password -- that is required to sign into your account. TOTP is used so that someone who steals your username and password still cannot login as you, because they also need the second factor: a one-time password, which changes periodically and expires. The purpose in 1Password.com accounts specifically is to prevent a similar replay attack, where someone could use your Secret Key and Master Password to sign into your account on a new device. Those together encrypt the data, and then the one-time password is also needed during the sign in process to authenticate you. Does that help? Let me know if you have any questions! :)

  • 3bridges
    3bridges
    Community Member
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    See the following discussion, you will find it answers your question https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/93504/using-1password-for-totp-two-factor-pros-and-cons

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
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    It was a good discussion. Thanks! :)

This discussion has been closed.