A processing system may detect a physical location of a user via at least one mobile computing device of the user, where the user is to be authenticated for a network-based transaction, identify at least one network-connected sensor device at the physical location, and determine, from the at least one network-connected sensor device, a set of environmental conditions of an environment of the physical location. The processing system may next identify at least one action for the user to perform to interact with at least one aspect of the environment in accordance with the set of environmental conditions and transmit an instruction to the user to perform the at least one action. The processing system may then obtain sensor data from the at least one network-connected sensor device, determine, from the sensor data, that the user performed the at least one action, and authenticate the user for the network-based transaction.