ITPEC IP April 2025 Question 45
Which of the following is an appropriate description concerning user authentication of a system?
Explanation
A code number used to authenticate a user is a PIN — a Personal Identification Number.
A PIN is a secret number that only the legitimate user knows, such as the number entered with a bank card at an ATM. It proves identity by something the user knows. Each of the other options describes a real mechanism but gives it the wrong name.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) — logging in to many servers and applications with one authentication is single sign-on; challenge-response authentication has the server send a random value and the client return a value computed from it and the password, so the password never crosses the network
- •(b) — authentication by fingerprints, voice prints and other body characteristics is biometric authentication, not single sign-on
- •(d) — remembering positions in a displayed grid and entering the characters shown there is matrix authentication, a kind of one-time password; multi-factor authentication combines factors of different kinds (knowledge, possession, biometrics)
Key rule: Multi-factor means different kinds of factor, such as a card plus a PIN; two things the user knows are still one factor.
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