A one-time password (OTP) is a temporary code that is valid for a single sign-in or transaction and expires within seconds or minutes. It is generated by an authenticator app or a hardware token, or sent by SMS or email, and usually serves as the second factor in multi-factor authentication (MFA). Codes sent by SMS are exposed to SIM swapping attacks.
Related term in this glossary: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
OTP, one-time passcode, TOTP, HOTP, OTP code, SMS OTP
Related terms
ITDR (identity threat detection and response)
Identity threat detection and response (ITDR) is the set of tools and practices that monitor identity systems, such as Active Directory or Microsoft Entra ID, to detect and stop account abuse. It looks for signals like impossible travel sign-ins, privilege escalation or Kerberoasting attacks, and lets the security team disable the account or revoke its active sessions.
Biometric authentication
Biometric authentication is a method of verifying a person's identity based on a unique physical or behavioral trait, such as a fingerprint, face, iris or voice. In a business setting, it is used to unlock devices or approve access as a second factor. Unlike a password, a biometric trait cannot be changed if compromised, so it works best combined with other factors.
Strong password
A strong password is long, unique to each service and hard to guess, ideally a passphrase of several words with at least 14 characters. Length matters more than mixing symbols, and it works best alongside a password manager and multi-factor authentication, because even a strong password is useless once it is reused or leaked.
CAPTCHA
A CAPTCHA is a test a website uses to tell a person from an automated program, such as typing distorted letters, picking images or simply checking a box. It protects sign-up, login and checkout forms against bots that try stolen passwords or generate spam.
LDAP and Kerberos
LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is the standard protocol for querying and updating a company's directory of users, computers and groups, such as Active Directory. Kerberos is the protocol that verifies user identity with encrypted tickets so passwords do not travel across the network. Together they underpin sign-in and authentication in Windows (Active Directory) domains.
Ready to put this into practice in your operation?
Tell us what you need and a TecnetOne engineer will get back to you.
Talk to an engineerTalk to an engineer
Tell us what you need and we’ll reply the same business day.