“Why do companies text me codes when I just want to log in on their website?” I know, this can be annoying; the seemingly constant barrage of texted codes to input just to be able to sign in. Let’s talk about 2-Factor Authentication : What is it? In the world of IT security, there are multiple ways to authenticate (that is, validate you are who you say you are). We split these up into three factors: Something you know (like usernames, passwords, social security numbers, etc.