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The living hell of multi factor authentication

Started by downer, September 15, 2021, 03:33:30 PM

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onehappyunicorn

Our MFA only allows for phone calls, it's a huge pain. I originally set it up for my office phone but then quickly realized that I couldn't get into anything when I wasn't in my office. I really enjoy trying to log into my email from my phone, it usually takes 3-4 tries.
What really irritates me is that we are on macs in our department and our IT has no idea how to do anything with them. They locked us down about a year ago so if I need something as simple as updating my browser I have to put in a helpdesk ticket. Every time there is an upgrade IT has to come down here and spend half the day just getting my computer to connect to the printer again.
The last time they installed the new OS my computer was down for almost two days. I also teach digital classes so I have the adobe creative suite, it's a freaking nightmare to update that now.

nebo113

NYT has an article today about Microsoft no longer requiring passwords.  I didn't quite understand it.

downer

I think yahoo mail stopped requiring passwords some time ago. I have no idea what my password is because it is always MFA that gets me in. But that works pretty well. I see more of a need for that since there seem to be real attempts to hack my account, judging from the attempts that get made to log in.

I've never seen any attempts of someone trying to hack into one of my school email accounts. Why would anyone want to?
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."—Sinclair Lewis

arcturus

Quote from: downer on September 16, 2021, 08:15:56 AM
I've never seen any attempts of someone trying to hack into one of my school email accounts. Why would anyone want to?

I received a phishing attempt through my university email address asking for a cryptocurrency pay-off to avoid having my files ("you know which ones") made known to the universe. They claimed to have inserted the email onto my computer directly, without going through the email server (a very odd explanation as to why I should not attempt to have the email traced; and supposed evidence that they could do whatever they wanted with my files). Anyway, your comment questioning why anyone would want to hack our email accounts brought this to mind. They didn't hack my email (or computer), but they wanted me to think so. And, no, had I been so foolish as to respond to said email, MFA would not have saved me.