Comment by vel0city
1 month ago
Most common example, I log in to my bank, they say they sent an SMS, I sit there waiting to access my account, then 20 minutes later the SMS finally actually gets delivered after I've given up and left to do something else. Rinse/repeat.
Or another example, someone hijacks my SMS'es, and then they log in as me.
SMS sucks. SMS is insecure.
The amount of times I've experienced customers complaining about SMS 2FA not working well despite it being on their carrier failing to deliver the messages in a timely fashion really showed me how terrible it is.
Dunno what to tell you. Several possible points of failure there. Maybe your bank's system for sending SMS just sucks. Maybe you're in a place with poor mobile network coverage (which is a real problem for SMS 2FA, I agree, having lived in a place with nearly none for several years).
But for me, where I live now, with my bank, and my phone carrier, it works great. Never had a problem that I can think of. Typically, the SMS arrives within seconds. It's the least annoying and most reliable 2FA method I use.
I'm not that worried about potential security issues. Sure, it's a possible problem, but pretty low on the list of things to worry about.
The least annoying and most reliable form of 2FA I use is tapping the touch sensor, doing a biometric face unlock, or typing in my PIN on the device I currently have in my hands. Its miles less annoying and way more reliable.
Glad that works well for you. Does not work well for me. I do not care for laptops except when necessary and have come to loathe my phone. Everything important is done with desktop computers that do not have cameras or touch sensors, so biometrics can't work.
In general, I do not have a "device currently in my hands" and having to pick one up and unlock it is annoying.
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