What is secure two-factor customer authentication, or strong authentication?

Authentication is a means of identifying someone remotely. For users of financial services in online banking, this means that, before giving permission for a transaction to be completed, we verify whether the user is the person they claim to be.

Simple verification (authentication) tools are based on one of the three following elements or factors:

• the user knows something (for example, a password or ID/PIN number),
• the user owns something (for example, Mobile ID, MobileSCAN, code calculator, etc.),
• the user’s biometrics (for example, voice, fingerprint, etc.).

Strong authentication is a process which uses at least two of the aforementioned authentication factors, such as a code from a code calculator plus a PIN code. Furthermore, one of the elements must be unique and single-use.