The whole two-factor authentication system is a fantastic idea. However the idea of
giving a new device to every person who needs to login to my site? Well, that just
seems expensive. And given the fact that I’ve thrown out all of my grocery membership
cards and refuse to shop at those places because it makes my wallet too heavy…I
doubt that people really want to carry that stuff around.

The solution? Use the device we all have with us: our cellular phone. PhoneFactor has
a platform that does just that. It’s also free to use for an application of your choice.
You can set it up for RDP, VPN, or program your web app against it. When your users
log in, they get a call on their cell phone and have to press #. If you want to try
it out without setting anything up, try getting a free MyOpenId and
using PhoneFactor as your authentication mechanism.

Personally, I still think the barrier to entry is too high, what with configuration
and licensing and user training and edge cases where it doesn’t work…but hopefully
good technology options like this will push out the absurd technology options like
RSA keys and press the pricing down to the point where it really is everywhere and
everyone accessable. Then if we could just get Microsoft and Apple to build it into
the OS so that we really can authorize everywhere using easy tools from any provider.