PhoneFactor Makes WordPress Logins More Secure than Most Online Bank Accounts

July 17, 2008 – Positive Networks, a leading provider of security products and services, today announced that PhoneFactor, its phone-based authentication technology, is available as a free plug-in to WordPress, the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world. With PhoneFactor, WordPress’ hundreds of thousands of bloggers can protect their sites from unauthorized access – thus protecting their reputation and their readers. PhoneFactor makes WordPress log ins more secure than most online bank accounts.

The PhoneFactor plug-in adds a second form of authentication to WordPress administrative logins. Bloggers log in to WordPress with their user name and password (just like they do today) and instantly they get a call. They answer the call and press # to complete their WordPress log in. A hacker would need to know the blogger’s log in information and have physical possession of their phone to log in.

Since the PhoneFactor call is made only if the correct user name and password are entered, if a user gets a call when they are not logging in it means their log in information has been compromised. By entering 911#, they can instantly reset their password – essentially locking their WordPress account.

“Most people tend to use the same usernames and passwords on every web site,” stated Alex King, developer of the plug-in for WordPress. “As a result, a compromised account/password on any service might give someone access to your entire online life. With a system like PhoneFactor, which uses a call to your phone as a second type of authentication, this risk can now be significantly reduced.”