Your Goal
Develop your understanding of password security and the different ways that you can prove your identity to different types of systems.
What is Authentication?
Proving who you are (authentication) to a system can be done in multiple ways. These can be broken down into 3 categories:
Something You KNOW
Knowledge stored inside your brain
Something You HAVE
A physical item you can hold
Something You ARE
Biometrics — a unique part of your body
Want to dive deeper? Read more here or here.
Quick Question
What are the 2 types of authentication (2FA / MFA) used for the machine shown below?
Click each option — which two apply?
Hint: an ATM uses 2 of the 3 factors!
Your Questions
| Authentication Method | Example 1 (your answer!) | Example 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 🧠 Knowledge-based (know) | Your answer here… | Password |
| 🔑 Physical Items (have) | Your answer here… | Credit Card |
| Biometrics (are) | Fingerprints | Your answer here… |
| Authentication Method | 💪 Strength | ⚠️ Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| 🧠 Know | Your ideas… | You could forget it |
| 🔑 Have | Your ideas… | Your ideas… |
| Are | Your ideas… | Your ideas… |
Rubric
| 🌱 Developing | ✅ Consolidating | 🌟 Extending | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers | Aspects of the questions have been answered, but either very briefly, or components haven't been explained in enough detail. | All responses make sense, show logical thought, and have some elaboration (depth). You've provided examples of the 3 categories of identification. | Very detailed responses highlighting a deep level of understanding. Strengths & weaknesses of authentication categories correctly identified. Explained how 2FA/MFA helps overcome weaknesses. |
| Slides | A basic PowerPoint with only black text on a white background. |
|
Images used to demonstrate knowledge and improve appearance. High: A hyperlinked index page has been added. |
What is the Internet?
▶ Click the cloud to watch: What is the Internet?
One of the great strengths of the internet is just how robust and decentralised it is. It was never built around a single control room or master switch, but instead as a sprawling web of millions of connected devices and networks, each capable of routing information along a different path. This makes it extremely difficult for any government, organisation or individual to fully block or shut down, which means that, for the most part, people everywhere can access information freely. It also means that the internet removes geographical boundaries altogether. A student in Tasmania can research a topic using a university library on the other side of the planet, learn a new skill from a video made in another country, shop for something only sold overseas, stream music or shows produced thousands of kilometres away, and chat with friends or relatives who live nowhere near them. Distance, in many ways, stops being a barrier.
However, this same strength comes with a catch. The very same connections that let you reach someone on the far side of the world also let someone on the far side of the world potentially reach you. A device that is not properly secured, or an account protected with a weak or reused password, can be accessed by people thousands of kilometres away who you will never meet and who may not have your best interests in mind. The internet does not really have a "local" version of safety; the same openness that gives you access to the whole world also gives the whole world a possible path back to you.