When you walk into your bank, the teller can look at you, recognize you, and maybe ask how your week is going. A website has none of that. It cannot see your face, hear your voice, or notice that you are wearing the same jacket as last time.
So every website has the same worry: is this really you, or a stranger who found your email address? To tell the difference, it asks you for proof.
Your digital identity is the collection of accounts and information that represent you online. Authentication is how you prove that you are the person allowed to use an account.
Not everything you could show a website actually proves anything. For each one below, decide: is this proof, or not?
Each lesson in this mini-module builds on the last, but you can also read any one of them on its own.
The three kinds of proof a computer will accept, and why every login you have ever done used at least one of them.
Why a password by itself is only one lock, and how adding another kind of proof stops many account break-ins.
Lose your phone without losing your accounts. A recovery plan you can run from any computer you can borrow.
A short recap of the whole plan, and a certificate with your name on it.
First, meet the three families of proof and the shape they make. Continue to The Identity Triangle.