Unlocking the Power of Two-Factor Authentication
In today’s digital age, the internet has become an integral part of our daily lives. We use it to connect with friends and family, manage our finances, invest, attend classes, and more. At the heart of these online interactions are services that rely on traditional methods of authorization, such as usernames and passwords. However, as technology advances, these methods are no longer sufficient to ensure the security of our personal information.
The Rise of Two-Factor Authentication
To address this issue, two-factor authentication (2FA) has emerged as a powerful solution. 2FA provides an additional layer of security on top of standard authentication processes, requiring users to enter additional data to access their accounts. This data can come from different sources, including physical possessions (e.g., smartphones or access cards) and biological attributes (e.g., biometrics like fingerprints or retina scans).
The Benefits of Two-Factor Authentication
The advantages of 2FA are clear:
- It provides stronger protection against attacks and adds an extra layer of security for your account.
- In most cases, it doesn’t add extra costs for the user.
- Setting up 2FA is relatively easy for most services.
Implementing Two-Factor Authentication with Speakeasy
In this article, we’ll focus on implementing a time-based one-time password (TOTP) using the Speakeasy library. We’ll explore the backend implementation of 2FA, creating a simple Node.js server without building a user interface.
Getting Started
To begin, create a project folder and initialize it with npm init. Then, install the necessary dependencies, including Express, body-parser, and node-json-db.
Generating the Secret Key
The first step in enabling 2FA is creating a key to link the server and the application that generates the 2FA codes. We’ll use Speakeasy’s generateSecret function to create a secret key, which can be used to set up 2FA.
Verifying the Two-Factor Authentication Secret
After generating the secret key, we need to verify it using the authenticator app. Once verified, we can store the secret permanently and use it to generate codes.
Verifying User Tokens
The final step in 2FA is verifying codes entered by the user from their authenticator app. We’ll add an endpoint to confirm that the tokens entered by the user are valid.
Putting it All Together
With these steps, we’ve successfully created two-factor authentication using Speakeasy. The complete code for this implementation can be found on GitHub.
Next Steps
While we’ve focused on implementing 2FA functionality, there’s more to explore. In a normal application, users would register and choose whether to enable 2FA or not. We can also use Speakeasy to generate codes and send them by SMS to the user for verification.
Take Your Application to the Next Level
Speakeasy makes it easy to add 2FA to your applications. Challenge yourself to build a user interface that enables users to sign up with a username and password and opt-in to 2FA. With LogRocket’s modern error tracking, you can take your application to the next level. Sign up today and get started!