Gmail will stop using SMS for two-factor authentication

[Pelican Press 0]

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Gmail will stop using SMS for two-factor authentication

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is planning to end support for SMS-based two-factor authentication in Gmail,

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. Sending a code to your personal phone via text message has long been an option

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offered to verify your identity, but it has unavoidable security issues the company wants to address.

The goal is to “reduce the impact of rampant, global SMS abuse,” Gmail spokesperson Ross Richendrfer tells Forbes, and the solution, at least for now, is QR codes. Instead of entering your number and receiving a text with a code you need to enter,

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will throw up a QR code you need to scan with your phone. The reliance on your smartphone is still present, but now you don’t have to rely on the lax security of SMS messages.

Using SMS two-factor authentication is better than nothing, but text messages aren’t as secure as other methods. Criminals can intercept your message just by convincing your carrier to port your number to a new phone. By tricking a provider to send multiple SMS messages to a number a criminal operation controls in a process called “traffic pumping,” they can even make money on each text,

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says. Considering the volume of SMS messages the company sends to both verify users and make sure people aren’t bulk-creating accounts to send spam, it’s not hard to see how SMS could be problem.

Ultimately, the goal for

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and other companies like it is to use

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and move away from passwords entirely, but

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, and making the current, much more familiar process secure is still meaningful.

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#Gmail #stop #SMS #twofactor #authentication

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