Feds Warn SMS Authentication Is Unsafe After ‘Worst Hack in Our Nation’s History’
Feds Warn SMS Authentication Is Unsafe After ‘Worst Hack in Our Nation’s History’
Even the U.S. government is telling Americans to use encrypted apps.
Oh it turns out we needed NSA to do its actual fucking job after all rather than holding onto exploits for the surveillance state.
Now — for the second time — we have an adversarial administration eager to weaponize government departments while Americans are vulnerable. Why? Because America is the good guys and would never abuse its extrajudicial powers (say, by detaining, rendering and torturing Americans with names similar to those of POIs.)
We could have had twenty-four years of robust communications security developments if NSA didnt sell the public out like Judas.
I hate forced 2FA that you can't disable anyway. I don't want to waste time waiting for an insecure text, I don't want to input an unencrypted code you sent to my email, I don't want to click your damn notification that runs through Play Services, and no I'm not enrolling in passwordless auth. I don't need to be babied into securing my accounts. Any account I do actively and willingly secure is already using TOTP. Let me put in my username and password, then kindly fuck off.
Authentication for my work email: Enter 28 character password, receive sms, enter message, log in
Authentication for my Battle.net account:
-Enter email made before 2000 because they don't let you change email
-Enter password
-Get rejected
-Solve CAPTCHA
-Try backup passwords, get rejected
-Request new password
-Send request to 24 year old email
-Try to log on to 24 year old email, email is suspicious and sends Authentication request to my newer email
-Open newer email, Authenticate older email
-open old email, Put in code to battle.net
-Battle.net requests Authenticator code from Battle.net app
-Open battle.net app (no requests)
-Try manual code, doesn't work
- Realize Battle.net app Authenticator not connected
-Try to connect Battle.net app Authenticator to account
-Realize you cannot connect Authenticator without signing in AND signing in requires Authenticator
-Close Battle.net app
-Open Blizzard Authenticator
-Close warning that this app got depreciated in January
-Enter manual code
-it works
-Attempt to change password to password I first attempted
-Won't let me use same password
-Try logging in using that password
-Still doesn't work - Solve one more CAPTCHA
-Change password to backup password and back to original password - have to solve 2 more Captchas
-Finally works
-Log in
Always has been
Thank god, give me my HMAC hash please.
Nothing more terrifying than losing your phone number these days because of all the accounts tied to it via 2FA.
I wish Signal stopped using it. I know you can set a Signal PIN but a lot of the non-techy friends I speak to on Signal probably wouldn't think to, or look through the settings (not that you need to be "techy" to set it, but you know the kind of learned helplessness most people have about tech). At least a prompt for all users to set an account PIN so their account can't just be stolen by anyone with their SIM card.
Since when was sms ever secure? My understanding is that messages are sent in the clear, meaning your carrier and the recipient's carrier both have the opportunity to intercept messages.
I mean that's the message content, not the authentication, but still, sms is the opposite of secure, always has been.
Hollywood hacking has nothing on real hacking it seems.
I coulda told you that for free. And sooner
