Remember the initial wave of BLM/Antifa rioting and looting in June?
Just about every big corporation donated to BLM, including all of the major mobile telecom owners (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all signed on to this crap).
When the SHTF, every major mobile telecom owner potentially becomes your enemy. Don't trust them. Assume they will cancel you when stuff gets out of hand.
Beware of two-factor authentication (2FA) that uses your mobile number or text message.
2FA is a general approach for authenticating logins. The idea is that if an unauthorized person grabs login info for an online service, they will be prompted to authenticate (via email message, phone, or text message) that they don't have. In practice, it's not needed. The vast majority of online services already use an email account for registration, which already provides 2FA.
In my experience, 2FA is largely not necessary. I avoid using it whenever possible and never get hacked anyway.
Why is 2FA based on your mobile or text number so dangerous? It allows your mobile service provider to shut off all of your authenticated services at any time. If you get "cancelled" and your number is identified, far-left woke telecoms could discontinue your service, preventing you from authenticating and therefore locking you out of many online services. You wouldn't trust the mobile telecoms with your house or car keys, right? Why would you trust them to authenticate your bank account?
Best practices and alternatives to mobile phone/text 2FA:
Prefer email-based 2FA. For email accounts, set up a "recovery account" that you exclusively use for recovery and nothing else.
Standalone hardware authenticator token key fobs are non-identifiable and therefore safe.
DO NOT use a social media account as authentication if you post from it; Big Tech is infamous for data-mining/profiling and you may be cancelled at any time.
NEVER "link" your online profile visibly to any account that you use for 2FA. For example, if you create an email account for authentication, don't use your real name or contact info in there; this makes it harder to get cancelled and locked out of online services.
ALWAYS use strong passwords, and never use the same password for multiple online services. Good password practices are always better than 2FA, if you have to take one or the other.
A strong password is your best defense. 2FA was invented strictly for datamining. The more complete set of data they can sell the more they can get for it. That was the whole reason FB started demanding you use your REAL name, email, PN, address, etc.
A good strong password is enough. I usually do something I can easily remember, like, [email protected]! <--(haven't used that one, but you get the idea)
This is absolutely not true. Hackers have databases of millions upon millions of the most common passwords and password variations. The fact is, very few passwords are completely original, so if your password, or something like it winds up in one of these databases then it will be easy to hack, even if it is a 'strong' password.
If you use a purely random password of sufficient length then you're safe, but if it's easy for you to remember then it's probably fairly easy to hack.
A common/easily guessed password can't be strong by definition.
This is true I guess. My point is, many people use passwords they believe are strong, because they have the proper mix/length of the various types of characters, but they are not actually strong.
Very, very few people actually use truly strong passwords. Doing this properly would require creating a different strong password for each account, or at least each important account.
No one can remember all of those passwords, which means you need to write them down somewhere, which opens up yet another security problem.
This is why 2FA is a very good idea. It adds an extra layer of security, and significantly reduces your chances of being compromised.
Frens who respond to the Biden text campaigners beware, while they make fantastic memes, you're being placed on special lists where this kind of security threat is a very real concern.
Notice the language they're using in responses, "stay safe" - that's a threat.
Sorry folks, but ask anyone who understands digital security and they will tell you 2FA is a simple, effective way to keep your accounts and data secure. You should ABSOLUTELY set up 2FA on any important accounts that allow it, especially financial accounts.
The OP does have a point though, you don't want it to be totally reliant on one mobile device that might not be accessible to you when you need it. Many companies will allow you to enter multiple devices/phone numbers and you can choose which one to send your 2FA code to when you are logging in. Always have at least 2 numbers in there so you can still log in even if you lose your cell phone.
$10 no contract dumb phone?
I thought telco fell under regulation that prevents this.
"The law" is no protection if it's selectively enforced.
Look at all the businesses that have been looted/burned since June, all the people who got assaulted, and all the vehicles that got blocked, vandalized, or smashed up. "The law" utterly failed to protect them. In some causes, the problem goes all the way up to the mayor and police chief.
You can have all the regulation you like. The Democrooks will find a way to circumvent it or block investigation into misconduct.
You are your own best defender. The government won't protect you since they have other interests...
I understand but they fail to lose their license and entire business if they purposely disconnect communications. There is no way of working around it. The law is clear on telco regulation. They need a warrant or account past due of 90 days. Balance amount can impact as well by a threshold. They would sacrifice everything.