api: YAML JSON TOON Database
version: 1.0.0
format: toon
dataset:
  id: 2324
  slug: authentication-factors
  title: Authentication Factors
  description: Categories of authentication evidence.
  summary: "The categories of evidence used to prove identity: something you know, have and are, plus the contextual signals of location, time and behavior that risk-based systems add. Each row lists typical examples so a design can say which factors it actually combines."
  use_when[2]: You are designing or auditing multi-factor authentication and need to confirm the factors are genuinely different.,You are explaining why two passwords are not two factors.
  caveats[2]: Two items from the same category do not make multi-factor authentication.,"Location, time and behavior are usually risk signals that adjust a decision, not standalone factors."
  related[3]: cryptography-basics,common-vulnerabilities-owasp,http-authentication-methods
  entry_count: 6
  fields[2]{section,field,type,example}:
    data,factor,string,Knowledge
    data,examples,string,"Passwords, PINs, security questions"
  category: Cybersecurity
  category_slug: cybersecurity
  tags: "security,authentication,mfa"
  view_count: 44
  created_at: 1792832553
  updated_at: 1792832553
data[6]{factor,examples}:
  Knowledge,"Passwords, PINs, security questions"
  Possession,"Hardware tokens, smartphones, smart cards"
  Inherence,"Fingerprints, facial recognition, voice prints"
  Location,"IP address, GPS coordinates"
  Time,"Time-based one-time passwords, access windows"
  Behavior,"Typing rhythm, mouse movement, gait, device-usage patterns (used as continuous, risk-based signals)"