CAS-003 · Question #885
A company protects privileged accounts by using hardware keys as a second factor. A security engineer receives an error while attempting to authenticate with a hardware key for the first time. The…
The correct answer is A. The code is not being entered in a timely manner. Hardware security tokens that generate TOTP (Time-based One-Time Passwords) produce codes synchronized to the current time, typically valid for only 30 seconds. A first-time user unfamiliar with this constraint may take too long to read, type, or submit the code, causing it to…
Question
A company protects privileged accounts by using hardware keys as a second factor. A security engineer receives an error while attempting to authenticate with a hardware key for the first time. The engineer confirms the credentials are valid by logging Into a system while MFA is disabled. Which of the following is the MOST likely reason the login is failing?
Options
- AThe code is not being entered in a timely manner.
- BThe one-time password must be entered in the password field.
- CThe security engineer entered the wrong password.
- DThe hardware key must be registered with the application.
How the community answered
(22 responses)- A91% (20)
- B5% (1)
- D5% (1)
Explanation
Hardware security tokens that generate TOTP (Time-based One-Time Passwords) produce codes synchronized to the current time, typically valid for only 30 seconds. A first-time user unfamiliar with this constraint may take too long to read, type, or submit the code, causing it to expire before the authentication server validates it. The engineer confirmed valid credentials by logging in with MFA disabled, which eliminates Option C. Option D (key not registered) is a plausible distractor for a first-time use scenario, but hardware keys are typically registered by an administrator before being issued to a user. Option B is incorrect because OTPs are entered in a dedicated OTP/MFA field, not the password field, in properly designed authentication flows.
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