There are well known forms of authentication in security we use often to identify someone’s identity to systems. Three forms are; something you know ( i.e a password), something you have (i.e a bank card, secureId token), something you are (i.e fingerprints, retnal pattern). For example, when you use your ATM card at a bank you are using something you have (bank card) and a pin (something you know) , this is called multifacter authentication.

On Security Now (a fantastic podcast) Q and A episode 92 someone wrote in about another way of authenticating users using IP intelligence. IP intelligence is knowing approximately where you are located when using the internet. So you can have a website display local resturants based on the the IP he logged on to the site with.

The applications of this technology is great. When discussing authentication this can be used to further verify someone’s identity. If I log onto my bank site with a IP address that originated from Geneva, that might be a good indication to the website that it’s not me logging on. There are third-party’s services that offer this to the extra security contious web site. This works nicely , since , the IP address of the user logging in using a SSL connection can’t be spoofed. So next time you’re in China and you can’t log into your banking site you’ll know why

Anyone have an other forms of authentication you’d like to share ???