---
title: Ask Christopher – Contextual Authentication Security
description: PortalGuard is pairing contextual authentication with 2FA to add an extra layer of security. Learn more about how this method offers users more flexibility.
---

[BIO-key Blog](https://blog.bio-key.com)

# [Ask Christopher – Contextual Authentication Security](https://blog.bio-key.com/ask-christopher-contextual-authentication-security)

 Written by [Christopher Perry](https://blog.bio-key.com/author/christopher-perry) | Apr 12, 2021, 6:00:00 PM

I’m going to be very frank: a LOT of questions come through the support team here at PistolStar, Inc. That’s not a bad thing – in fact, I love it!  Questions keep me going, and I like to see what customers and prospects can come up with.  A good ‘stumper’ goes a long way!  Moving forward, I will be taking a look at the most popular or frequent questions that come through the support desk, and writing about them in a bit more detail.

These questions will range from simple user interface questions to the nitty-gritty curious integrations that keep life interesting.  So, now that we are here, let’s start with an oldy but a goody:

 

**The Question**

*“How can we add extra security for users accessing our resources from off of the network without upsetting our on-network users?”*

 

**The Answer**

If you are reading our newsletter you may already know the answer, but I’ll go ahead and give it to you again just in case.

[PortalGuard’s contextual authentication](https://www.bio-key.com/multi-factor-authentication/adaptive-multi-factor-authentication/) allows administrators to configure varying security requirements for users based on where they are when they access the network resources.

For example, user ***Jdoe123*** works diligently at the office from 9-5. He only ever has to input his username and password once to access all work-related resources. It is simple, straightforward, and helps him get his job done. At 7:30, while at home, ***Jdoe123 ***realizes that he needs to access his corporate files. Upon navigating to the corporate website, he realizes that this access is allowed, but with a new caveat: he’s asked for his username and password along with a One-Time Passcode. Since ***Jdoe123’s ***source IP address comes from off-network, he’s required to undergo Two-Factor Authentication to securely verify his identity.

 

**Gimme the Details**

Now you know the basics, but let’s be honest: that’s not all that fun. Sure, you know that adding extra security for external accounts CAN work, but how does contextual authentication work, exactly?

 

*Give me a second, alright? I’m getting to that part!*

 

**Contextual Authentication - It’s All About the Context**

With the PortalGuard Authentication Provider, Contextual Authentication pairs perfectly with [Two-Factor Authentication](https://www.bio-key.com/multi-factor-authentication/two-factor-authentication/). Specifically speaking, [PortalGuard](https://www.bio-key.com/portalguard/) looks at the IP Address of the incoming authentication request and uses that to make intelligent decisions.

In the case of ***Jdoe123***, PortalGuard references a pre-determined "white list" of IP Address ranges and requires Two-Factor Authentication because ***Jdoe123 ***is trying to authenticate from an IP Address outside of that range.

When it comes to adding security during a login, context is key.  Sure, you can always go the all-or-nothing route and just make everyone use [Multi-Factor Authentication](https://www.bio-key.com/multi-factor-authentication/types-multi-factor-authentication-methods/), but that can be a nightmare. If your authentication source looks at the ***Context ***of that login, it becomes much more straightforward and usable to dynamically increase or decrease security requirements.

 

[Contextual Authentication](https://www.bio-key.com/multi-factor-authentication/contextual-authentication/) is not limited to just IP Addresses. Through PortalGuard, it is possible to make decisions based on IP addresses, date/time ranges, and even geolocation. If you want to get real fancy, you can use a combination of those as well!

 

Interested in learning more about contextual authentication? Feel free to [download our tech brief here](https://info.bio-key.com/contextual-authentication-a-multi-factor-approach-tech-brief): 

 

 

**Final Thoughts**

Security is important. Authentication security in the evolving digital market is arguably even more important. It’s easy to take these requirements too seriously, but you can always have a little fun if you know where to look. Contextual Authentication is no different: All the benefits of added security, with even more benefits of usability and flexibility.

 

 

 

 

*Christopher R. Perry is a Senior Technical Support Representative here at BIO-key, Inc. He takes time to answer the most common questions that customers and prospects bring to the PortalGuard Support Team. His column, Ask Christopher, is featured in our Customer Quarterly Newsletter.*

 

 

[View full post](https://blog.bio-key.com/ask-christopher-contextual-authentication-security)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Christopher Perry"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2023-09-10T07:05:10.533Z",
  "datePublished" : "2021-04-12T18:00:00Z",
  "headline" : "Ask Christopher – Contextual Authentication Security",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 1667,
    "url" : "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/1897291/89910-OISB82-100.jpg",
    "width" : 2500
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://blog.bio-key.com/ask-christopher-contextual-authentication-security",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60,
      "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
      "width" : 60
    },
    "name" : "BIO-key Blog"
  }
}
```