Notes

2FA for your Own Minecraft Server

In October I had the pleasure of heading across town to GamesBeat 2015, a brilliant conference initiated by VentureBeat, considered one of the 'best blogs on the web by The New York Times. VentureBeat is a top source for information on technology innovation, events, research and perspectives, and their GamesBeat conference, which is now in its seventh year, is a great example of how they focus them on tech trends in the gaming industry.



We were ecstatic when Authy was invited by GamesBeat 2015 to take part in the event. It's not every day when business and pleasure can coexist seamlessly. At Authy we help online businesses secure their data and safeguard their customers by making it easy to integrate two-factor authentication into their service offering. However, we're gamers by nature, so when a gaming platform ramps their security level we're more likely to play.



Gamers Losing Trust?



With the growth of virtual economies on gaming sites hackers are a hot commodity for gamers and game developers. On the black market, gaming profiles are available for thousands of dollars. However, it's multi-player games and the $11 billion in annual revenues they generate which are the main targets of cyber criminals. The in-game currencies of multiplayer titles, such as World of Warcraft gold, are easily stolen, exchanged, and easily cashed in for real cash, often in various countries, without the game developers even having any idea. Even if a company is able to recovers stolen assets and/or succeeds in prosecuting those accountable, this kind of crime is difficult to overcome. The player loses confidence in the game. And even after releasing a more secure version or a brand new game, regaining that trust is never easy.



But It Doesn't Need To Be That Way...



As users become frustrated with the constant breaches of their data and demand more responsible management of their personal data from companies. While we all are aware that passwords don't provide enough security, we also recognize that using a secondary factor to verify a user's' identity can protect your customers and your business from data loss, fraud, and malicious attacks. Two-factor authentication is a natural fit especially in multi-user online games where players accumulate and trade value.



Security with Just 10 Lines of Code



It's not hard to implement two-factor authentication. This is the basic gist of my presentation at GamesBeat 2015. Integrating Authy two factor authentication is easy, powerful, and reliable. And, with just 10 lines of code you can use two-factor authentication to:



Verify registration of players and allow access during login secure high-value transactions and game progressions and basically any game activity you want to safeguard



Yes. Authy for Minecraft.



To illustrate the idea, I created two-factor authentication in Minecraft to show you how to use:



Text or SMS to voice when logging in using Authy OneCode – One Time Passcode generation for player validation with AuthySoftToken. Push notification using Authy One Touch allows users to swipe their smartphone screen to make purchases in game as well as any other actions that may require additional security.



Hackers are no longer just after end-user data. They're now targeting entire player communities and some are looking to take down entire systems. Minecraft If gaming developers integrate two-factor authentication across the board, individual gamers are more secure Developer account data will be safer and brands will be able to build trust and loyalty within its player community.



Integrations between apps can be difficult for developers. We worked hard to make Authy easy for developers. The Authy REST API handles all the details, including key management and secure data structuring. And you get 2 simple end-points and pre-built library to improve security to your login process with the language you want to use: PHP, Ruby, Python, Java, NodeJS & more.



If you're a developer:



Head to https://www.authy.com/developers/ to learn more. There you can download an API key for free to test it out, and show us how you've integrated Authy #2FA.


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