A boom in the technology industry over the past decades has led to a current widespread growth and use of computers. There are many methods for ensuring the safety of our computers, but a few areas that can be secured to increase the safety of computers are authentication and authorization.

Authentication is making sure that the user who is accessing the system is somebody whose identity has been verified and is allowed to access it. This identity verification comes in many forms, but can be classified in three ways: what they have, what they know, or what they are. Verifying a user by what they have means requesting a physical device they have in their possession such as an access card. Verifying a user by what they know requires a password or pin in order to access, and verification by who they are requires stored biometric information like fingerprints, facial recognition, or iris identification. It is important to create strong, unique passwords for your computer and all your accounts. On the other hand, authorization is a form of access control that allows only certain users to complete certain actions such as reading or writing in objects like files. This prevents unauthorized people from accessing objects that they aren’t supposed to. Authentication and authorization together can protect the device and confidentiality of the contents.

The use of 2-factor authentication is another step in protecting your computer from unauthorized users. Old Dominion University also utilizes a form of 2-factor authentication when students and staff log into their MIDAS accounts. In addition to providing a correct username and password to the MIDAS account, the browser will then prompt the user to accept or decline a push notification to their mobile device from DUO to approve the log-in to the account. Another option is by providing a code that resides in the DUO application and entering it into the browser.