Signing users is a process to prove that the person trying to sign in is the same person who originally registered on your application, and many applications are using passwords to do so.
However, traditional, user-created, static, or fixed passwords are known to be vulnerable. There are many traps waiting for your users and application. To maintain security, business owners have started to consider switching from passwords to OTPs.
What is an OTP
An OTP or One-time Password is a password that is valid for a short period of time and can be used only once to verify a single login session or transaction.
Because of their one-use nature, OTPs are useful to secure an account in the event that an attacker captures an OTP; they would not be able to re-use the OTP in a second attempt. A user whose credentials have been leaked due to a phishing scam or malware that captures their keystrokes would still be protected.
OTP Use Cases & Examples
One-time Passwords are used by businesses who are looking to secure their application against attacks where credentials can be exploited. Here are a few use-cases in which OTPs are generally used
Passwordless Authentication: OTP authentication provides a good login experience to your users so that they don’t have to remember complicated passwords. It results in more conversions due to the reduction of friction caused by password standards.
MFA Authentication: Nowadays, a lot of web applications are asking users OTPS after passwords in conjunction to add another layer of security. One-time Passwords are the leading technology in today’s Two-factor Authentication Systems for more secure applications.
Phone/Email verification: User verification is an important step in your online relationship with a user. By verifying the identity of the user by phone/email or any other channel, you can reduce spam and fraud on your site while ensuring the user’s security.
Account Recovery: Whenever any user forgets the application credentials, they can recover the account by one-time passwords.
Payment Confirmation: Financial and banking applications need more security than any other application. That’s why in most financial applications, users need to enter an OTP before confirming any kind of payment transaction.
Best practices for one-time password generation and uses
Complexity of OTP: The complexity of OTP depends upon the string of characters used. These characters can be letters and numbers, or both. The length of OTP should be 6 to 10 characters long, as it will be convenient for the user and hard to guess for any malicious person.
OTP should be in focus: Whenever we send OTP to the user, it should be highlighted in the message. Ensure OTP is in the first line of your message, or if you can, make it bold.
Allow Retrying for OTPs: The user will be allowed to resend the OTP in case of any Channel failure or wrong OTP.
Channel should be Ultra-Secure: If your infrastructure or message channel is not safe enough, then your OTP authentication isn’t safe anymore. Investing in a safe infrastructure channel is the most important practice for sending OTP
Reputed Service Provider: Failed OTP is bad for business simply because, on average, a user takes only 8 seconds to leave a website. So always choose a reputed OTP Service Provider. It is essential to choose a provider with reliable delivery and a quick response period.
Rate limiting: You don’t want any malicious user to send multiple OTP for a single account at once. For some channels, OTP could cost you money, and also, it will overwhelm the system. To avoid this, there should be a time limit between each OTP generated for a single account.
Conclusion
As we now know, one-time passwords are poised to increase security and reduce compromised accounts, fraud, and other cybercrimes. One-time passwords provide your end-users an easy but secure way to access your services, resulting in a better user experience.
800+ Customers moved away from friction and befriended ease and security with MojoAuth in a singleday
