A buddy told me my 2FA setup was actually making me less safe

Last month at my shop I kept getting locked out of my parts ordering account. Old password was a mess so I turned on two factor with text codes. A buddy who does IT work came by to help with my shop computer and saw my setup. He told me SMS based 2FA is actually pretty weak because hackers can clone your SIM card or intercept texts. I never thought of that. He switched me over to using an authenticator app instead. Now I use Google Authenticator for all my logins. The codes are right there on my phone and I dont get locked out anymore. Has anyone else had a bad experience with text message 2FA?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim_hart77d ago

My buddy got his phone stolen and within an hour someone had used his SMS 2FA to get into his bank account. They just called the carrier and social engineered a SIM swap. That's why I switched to an authenticator app too. Google Authenticator works fine for me. It's a pain to set up on every site but way better than getting locked out or hacked.

sullivan.abby7d ago

Idk this but what about sites that don't even support authenticator apps though?