Pro tip: 2FA through text messages is basically useless now

I used to think that SMS two factor authentication was better than nothing and kept it on every account. Then my buddy Mark got his number ported out by some scammer who called Verizon pretending to be him. Took him 4 hours to get his line back and in that time they drained his crypto wallet and locked him out of email. I always thought SIM swapping was something that only happened to celebrities or rich people. Now I switched every account I can to authenticator apps like Authy or Google Authenticator instead. The extra 30 seconds it takes to open an app is way better than losing access to everything. Has anyone else had a close call with SIM swapping or am I just late to this party?

3 comments

3 Comments

christopherh791d ago

Man I'm way too lazy to be a target worth SIM swapping, but I still keep a backup phone with Google Authenticator in a drawer at home just in case I lose my main phone. My dumbest moment was when I switched carriers and forgot to move my 2FA codes over first, ended up locked out of my own Netflix account for a week. You're definitely not late to the party, I bet half the people here still use SMS and just hope it never happens to them. Got any tips for organizing all those codes without losing your mind?

jasonf351d ago

Print out your backup codes and stash them somewhere safe.

charles_young9221h ago

Has anyone tried using a hardware security key like a YubiKey? I switched to one after reading how easy it is to phish even authenticator app codes with fake login pages. My friend @christopherh79 mentioned backup phones, but those can still get stolen or break. A little USB key lives on my keychain, works for Google and most crypto exchanges, and I sleep a lot better knowing someone would need to physically steal it to get into my accounts.