Bingxing Wang

Sanchari Das, Bingxing Wang, L. Jean Camp

Traditional single-factor authentication possesses several critical security vulnerabilities due to single-point failure feature. Multi-factor authentication (MFA), intends to enhance security by providing additional verification steps. However, in practical deployment, users often experience dissatisfaction while using MFA, which leads to non-adoption. In order to understand the current design and usability issues with MFA, we analyze aggregated user generated comments (N = 12,500) about application-based MFA tools from major distributors, such as, Amazon, Google Play, Apple App Store, and others. While some users acknowledge the security benefits of MFA, majority of them still faced problems with initial configuration, system design understanding, limited device compatibility, and risk trade-offs leading to non-adoption of MFA. Based on these results, we provide actionable recommendations in technological design, initial training, and risk communication to improve the adoption and user experience of MFA.

Sanchari Das, Bingxing Wang, Zachary Tingle et al.

Security vulnerabilities of traditional single factor authentication has become a major concern for security practitioners and researchers. To mitigate single point failures, new and technologically advanced Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) tools have been developed as security solutions. However, the usability and adoption of such tools have raised concerns. An obvious solution can be viewed as conducting user studies to create more user-friendly MFA tools. To learn more, we performed a systematic literature review of recently published academic papers (N = 623) that primarily focused on MFA technologies. While majority of these papers (m = 300) proposed new MFA tools, only 9.1% of papers performed any user evaluation research. Our meta-analysis of user focused studies (n = 57) showed that researchers found lower adoption rate to be inevitable for MFAs, while avoidance was pervasive among mandatory use. Furthermore, we noted several reporting and methodological discrepancies in the user focused studies. We identified trends in participant recruitment that is indicative of demographic biases.