Voice Biometrics Basics: Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-factor authentication is the process of using more than one factor to authenticate a person’s identity. The three categories are:

• Something the person knows (e.g., password or PIN)
• Something the person has (e.g., security token, smartcard, cell phone)
• Something the person is (e.g., biometric such as voiceprint)

Combining two or more factors, where one of the factors is a biometric, provides the strongest level of authentication. For example, passwords or PINs can be shared, observed or broken. Smartcards or cell phones can be lost or stolen.