Two-factor authentication and passkeys
A password alone no longer protects sensitive accounts, but a poorly designed second factor drives users away. This lesson teaches you to compare the available factors, from SMS to passkeys, to decide which ones your product offers or requires by role, and to specify their rollout without locking anyone out.
Lesson objective
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to compare authentication factors (SMS, TOTP app, passkeys), choose the ones your product offers or requires depending on the role, and specify activation, recovery codes, recovery and the rollout plan.
Topics covered
- two-factor authentication
- MFA
- passkeys
- TOTP
- account security
In the glossary
Where it fits
Knowing who signs in
How do you verify users' identity, keep their session and give them access back without opening a security hole?
Lessons in this module
- Authentication, authorization and sessions
- Passwords and account recovery
- Two-factor authentication and passkeys (this lesson)
What you will learn in this module
This lesson is part of the course Design authentication and permissions for a product
- Distinguish authentication, authorization and session, and specify session durations, sign-out and access revocation.
- Specify password rules and account recovery journeys following current recommendations (NIST SP 800-63B-4, CNIL, OWASP).
- Choose strong authentication factors (TOTP app, passkeys), plan their rollout and specify the fallback journeys.
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