How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication in Ubuntu?

How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication in Ubuntu? Ubuntu is an open source operating system for computers. It is one of the distribution systems of Linux, and is based on the Debian architecture. It is usually run on personal computers, and is also popular on network servers, usually running the Ubuntu Server variant, with enterprise-class features. Ubuntu runs on the most popular architectures, including Intel, AMD, and ARM-based machines.

Ubuntu is also available for tablets and smartphones, with the Ubuntu Touch edition. Two-factor authentication (also known as 2FA) is a method of confirming a user’s claimed identity by utilizing a combination of two different components. Two-factor authentication is a type of multi-factor authentication.

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Prerequisites

Computer System with Ubuntu OS
Any Two-Factor Authentication App in your Smartphone

Install Two-Factor Authentication in Ubuntu

It is really simple to install two-factor authentication application, like Google Authenticator in Ubuntu system. All you have to do is just use below command to install it.

sudo apt install libpam-google-authenticator

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Configure Ubuntu OS

Another thing after install Google Authenticator is to configure Ubuntu Linux operating system properly. For this, we need to add a codes in ‘common-auth‘ file. So, to do it, just navigate to etc > pam.d > common-auth. Open the file with any good text-editor and find following below line in it.

auth [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so nullok_secure

Right above that line, add in this one:

auth required pam_google_authenticator.so

Save and close the file.

Configure Google Authenticator

So, now we need to configure Google Authenticator to use it. For this, just enter below command in your OS’s terminal.

google-authenticator

Google Authenticator will ask you few questions. According to my suggestion, answer the questions with following below answers.

Do you want authentication tokens to be time-based?

Yes

After answering first question, it will generate a QR Code, Key and Codes. Copy those codes somewhere secure and then answer other questions.

How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication in Ubuntu?

Do you want me to update your '/home/hsinghhira/.google_authenticator' file?

Yes

Do you want to disallow multiple uses of the same authentication token? This restricts you to one login about every 30s, but it increases your chances to notice or even prevent man-in-the-middle attacks?

By default, tokens are good for 30 seconds and in order to compensate for possible time-skew between the client and the server, we allow an extra token before and after the current time. If you experience problems with poor time synchronization, you can increase the window from its default size of 1:30min to about 4min. Do you want to do so?

If the computer that you are logging into isn't hardened against brute-force login attempts, you can enable rate-limiting for the authentication module. By default, this limits attackers to no more than 3 login attempts every 30s. Do you want to enable rate-limiting?

Yes

However, you can answer these question according to your requirements as well. It all depends on you.

Don’t close the terminal.

Set Up Two-Factor Authentication in Ubuntu

Well now, you need to install some sort of Two-Factor Authentication application in your smartphone. You can install Google Authenticator App in your smartphone, but according to my suggestion, install Authy app because it is more advanced with cloud storage.

While configuring Google Authenticator in Ubuntu, after first question, it was created a QR Code with Key. Use any Two-Factor Authenticator App and Scan QR code if you can. If are not able to scan QR Code then use Key to manually input it app.

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All Done. Restart your Ubuntu operating system to check its effect.

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