Warning: My $12 hardware key beats the SMS codes my bank pushes

I used to verify every login with a text code until a guy at the Dallas Public Library security desk showed me his YubiKey last month. Someone ported my number in 2023 and got into my email in about 9 minutes, which cost me a $180 overdraft fight with my bank. The key plugs into USB and I just tap it, no code to read off a screen and no phone involved at all. Texts can get swiped if someone talks your carrier into moving your number, the key can't leave my pocket. Has anyone here moved their whole family onto keys, or do you keep codes as a backup?

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noah_knight1mo ago

Read something last year about those SIM swap scams getting way worse, like carriers will just hand your number to anyone who knows your birthday. Scares me enough that I keep codes on for my parents since they'd lose a key in a week. But yeah for my own stuff a physical key sounds way safer.

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