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Software Engineering vocabulary · APIs, Networking and Security

Multi-factor authentication

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCore term

In software engineering, multi-factor authentication means: A login method that asks for two or more different kinds of proof, such as a password plus a code from a phone, before granting access.

In Turkish: çok faktörlü kimlik doğrulama, iki faktörlü kimlik doğrulama, MFA

How it is used

Almost always called MFA in speech; 2FA (two-factor authentication) is the two-factor version. Teams enable, enforce or roll out MFA. The factors are usually described as something you know, something you have and something you are.

Example sentences

  1. We enforced multi-factor authentication for all remote access last month.

  2. The stolen password was useless because the account had multi-factor authentication.

Common collocations

  • enable MFA
  • enforce MFA
  • MFA prompt
  • two-factor authentication
  • MFA fatigue
  • authenticationThe process of checking who a user or system is, for example with a password, a token or a fingerprint, before giving access.
  • passwordA secret string of characters that a person types to prove their identity and log in to an account, device or system.
  • credentialsThe details that prove who a user is and let them log in, most often a username and password, but also keys, tokens and certificates.
  • single sign-onA login system that lets a user sign in once with one set of credentials and then use many different applications without logging in again.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: APIs, Networking and Security

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