Text-based two-factor authentication is better than just a user name and password but still not perfect. An international cyber attack known as Operation Emmental is a man-in-the-middle attack that enables hackers to gain access to bank accounts by skirting text-based two-factor authentication.

This isn’t Google’s first foray into multi-factor authentication — the Authenticator app was launched in 2011 — but with support for the FIDO Alliance standard, the Internet giant is hoping to enable multiple tokens for secure access to data.

Universities across the country have formed a “cohortium” to bounce ideas off each other and gather information about best practices regarding multi-factor authentication. Internet2 is funding the project from its $1.8 million grant from the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace.

Passwords are not secure and enterprises are actively seeking out different digital identity and authentication technologies to help them secure online assets. Multi-factor authentication can go a long way to preventing many of these breaches as passwords are still the number one way hackers are gaining access to information on computer networks.

NexID Biometrics LLC unveiled an enhanced fake-finger-detection solution for both embedded fingerprint-sensor systems; Siber Systems Inc., maker of RoboForm, announced the availability of a free multi-factor authentication capability; CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS AMERICA announced the relocation of the 2015 event from Las Vegas to Washington, D.C.

Two-factor authentication is critical when protecting access to cloud-based resources. One way to better protect access to these sites is using two-factor authentication.

Verizon Enterprise Solutions is enabling QR codes for easy, secure two-factor authentication. This latest update to the Universal Identity Service aims to make logging on as easy as scanning a code on a Web site with a smart phone.

Eid Passport Inc. secured placement on the TSA’s TWIC Qualified Technology List for the company’s RAPID-RCx Program; Oberthur Technologies will acquire a 100% equity stake of NagraID Security SA; MorphoTrust USA announced the opening of several new centers for enrollment in the TSA PreCheck program; the Security Executive Council has selected quantum Secure as a Solution Innovation Partner.

Two-factor authentication is often pointed to as a way to improve online identification. And while two-authentication is an improvement over user names and passwords it can still be hacked. One of the latest attacks is a variation on a man-in-the-middle attack called Operation Emmental that’s being used in Europe.

Heartbleed was a bug in OpenSSL software used on web servers worldwide. OpenSSL encrypts data sent from the server to web visitors. It includes a feature called a heartbeat, which sends some data back to the visitor’s browser to let it know the site is ready and waiting for request and the heartbeat sends the same amount of data that the browser received, like an echo. But the Heartbleed bug added a vulnerability that could enable passwords and other data could have been openly accessed and the hackers likely would have gone undetected.