Author

Topic: Authy - Using without a phone number? (Read 470 times)

legendary
Activity: 3808
Merit: 1723
August 10, 2017, 10:07:32 PM
#4
It's not possible.

And I wouldn't use Authy as my 2FA mainly because of the same reason you described above. I remember reading a story on reddit about someone who lost $8k worth of bitcoin from his Coinbase account because a hacker got access over his phone number by social engineering Verizon.

But if you still want to use Authy and want to be safe from this kind of attacks, you can turn off "Allow Multi-device" on your account.
Just go to Settings > Devices > and turn off "Allow Multi-device".

I've never used Authy before. So when I used it for the very first time, download the app, and to my knowledge there was a bunch of Bitcoin services that I have used in the past like CEX or Cryptsy. So I am worried that maybe someone already has my Authy control and when I register for a new service like Coinbase my 2FA will appear.

Is there any way how to reset all of this? Or is the only safe way to just buy a burner phone and make sure no where in my emails I mention that number?

legendary
Activity: 2758
Merit: 6830
August 10, 2017, 09:38:03 PM
#3
It's not possible.

And I wouldn't use Authy as my 2FA mainly because of the same reason you described above. I remember reading a story on reddit about someone who lost $8k worth of bitcoin from his Coinbase account because a hacker got access over his phone number by social engineering Verizon.

But if you still want to use Authy and want to be safe from this kind of attacks, you can turn off "Allow Multi-device" on your account.
Just go to Settings > Devices > and turn off "Allow Multi-device".
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1048
August 10, 2017, 09:35:42 PM
#2
Just wondering if its anyway possible to use Authy with various services without an SMS phone number for security purposes?

Some sites only accept Authy and not Google authenticator. What I am worried about is the social engineering hacks and someone getting my number and getting my 2FA.



Not to my knowledge. This was a common request at CEX that we could not assist users with. To be fair, the type of social engineering attack that you are describing is rare, and can be mitigated by setting up extra account security (multiple passphrases, yes you can do this just ask) or you can put a notation on your account to only make changes in person at a store with an id. After all that, if something should happen to your account, they have pretty much walked into the civil lawsuit of the century due to gross negligence.

To avoid all that, just use Authenticator. way easier, way more reliable.
legendary
Activity: 3808
Merit: 1723
August 10, 2017, 08:22:50 PM
#1
Just wondering if its anyway possible to use Authy with various services without an SMS phone number for security purposes?

Some sites only accept Authy and not Google authenticator. What I am worried about is the social engineering hacks and someone getting my number and getting my 2FA.

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