{"id":609748,"date":"2023-02-19T07:49:17","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T13:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/19\/twitter-makes-sms-two-factor-authentication-exclusive-to-twitter-blue-users\/"},"modified":"2023-02-19T07:49:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-19T13:49:17","slug":"twitter-makes-sms-two-factor-authentication-exclusive-to-twitter-blue-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/19\/twitter-makes-sms-two-factor-authentication-exclusive-to-twitter-blue-users\/","title":{"rendered":"Twitter makes SMS two-factor authentication exclusive to Twitter Blue users"},"content":{"rendered":"<article aria-label=\"article\" data-id=\"q5WEqVTLag9wAtuX5F3Lic\">\n<header>\n<nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumbs\">\n<ol>\n<li>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\" aria-label=\"Return to Home\">Home<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/news\" aria-label=\"Return to News\">News<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/computing\" aria-label=\"Return to Software\">Software<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<\/header>\n<section>\n<div itemprop=\"image\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n<div>\n<picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" alt=\"Twitter logo on a mobile screen\" onerror=\"if(this.src &#038;&#038; this.src.indexOf('missing-image.svg') !== -1){return true;};this.parentNode.replaceChild(window.missingImage(),this)\"   data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ktWceNGY9XCMvkWq4xhFKF.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ktWceNGY9XCMvkWq4xhFKF.jpg\"><source type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Twitter logo on a mobile screen\" onerror=\"if(this.src &#038;&#038; this.src.indexOf('missing-image.svg') !== -1){return true;};this.parentNode.replaceChild(window.missingImage(),this)\"   data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ktWceNGY9XCMvkWq4xhFKF.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ktWceNGY9XCMvkWq4xhFKF.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ktWceNGY9XCMvkWq4xhFKF-320-80.jpg\" alt=\"Twitter logo on a mobile screen\" onerror=\"if(this.src &#038;&#038; this.src.indexOf('missing-image.svg') !== -1){return true;};this.parentNode.replaceChild(window.missingImage(),this)\"   data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ktWceNGY9XCMvkWq4xhFKF.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ktWceNGY9XCMvkWq4xhFKF.jpg\"><\/picture>\n<\/div>\n<p><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ktWceNGY9XCMvkWq4xhFKF.jpg\"><br \/>\n<meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"600\"><br \/>\n<meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"338\"><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\">\n<span>There&#8217;s more change for Twitter users<\/span><br \/>\n<span itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: Nathan Dumlao\/Unsplash)<\/span><br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Changes are afoot at Twitter, again: the social network owned by Elon Musk has announced that securing accounts via SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) is going to be an option exclusive to paying Twitter Blue users from this point on.<\/p>\n<p>As per the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.twitter.com\/en_us\/topics\/product\/2023\/an-update-on-two-factor-authentication-using-sms-on-twitter\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/blog.twitter.com\/en_us\/topics\/product\/2023\/an-update-on-two-factor-authentication-using-sms-on-twitter\" rel=\"noopener\">blog post<\/a><span> (opens in new tab)<\/span> explaining the change, you won&#8217;t be able to set up 2FA with SMS after March 30 unless you pay for Twitter Blue. If you currently use this method to protect access to your account, you&#8217;ve got 30 days to either subscribe to Twitter Blue or switch to a different 2FA method, such as an authenticator app or a security key.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We encourage non-Twitter Blue subscribers to consider using an authentication app or security key method instead,&#8221; says Twitter in its statement. &#8220;These methods require you to have physical possession of the authentication method and are a great way to ensure your account is secure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<blockquote data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Effective March 20, 2023, only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to use text messages as their two-factor authentication method. Other accounts can use an authentication app or security key for 2FA. Learn more here:https:\/\/t.co\/wnT9Vuwh5n<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TwitterSupport\/status\/1626757587524890624\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TwitterSupport\/status\/1626757587524890624\">February 18, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"See more\">See more<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"pay-up-or-switch\">Pay up or switch<\/h2>\n<p>In its blog post, Twitter mentions abuse of the SMS 2FA system by &#8220;bad actors&#8221; as one of the reasons behind the switch. From <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1626782134248828929\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1626782134248828929\" rel=\"noopener\">an Elon Musk tweet<\/a><span> (opens in new tab)<\/span>, it also seems that Twitter was losing a substantial amount of money from bot accounts abusing the SMS 2FA method.<\/p>\n<p>Now if you want to stick with SMS to set up Twitter on new devices, you&#8217;ll need to pay for the privilege. Twitter Blue costs $8 a month, or $11 a month if you sign up through Android or iOS, and it&#8217;s also available for a whole year for $84. Amongst other perks, you can edit tweets and undo the posting of tweets.<\/p>\n<p>While it&#8217;s perhaps not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/opinion\/4000-character-tweets-is-just-a-long-terrible-idea\">the worst change<\/a> that Twitter has seen under Musk&#8217;s stewardship, the move has kicked up a fair amount of anger \u2013 on Twitter, of course \u2013 from those who see it as putting one of the most crucial security measures behind a paywall.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2 id=\"analysis-set-up-two-factor-authentication-install-an-app\">Analysis: set up two-factor authentication, install an app<\/h2>\n<p>Two-factor authentication is absolutely something you should set up on Twitter, and everywhere else (<a href=\"https:\/\/help.twitter.com\/en\/managing-your-account\/two-factor-authentication\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/help.twitter.com\/en\/managing-your-account\/two-factor-authentication\" rel=\"noopener\">here&#8217;s how<\/a><span> (opens in new tab)<\/span>): it adds an extra level of protection that means something else is required to log into your account on unknown devices, besides a username and password (details which can be tricked out of you or indeed leaked out online).<\/p>\n<p>That &#8220;something else&#8221; can be a text message sent to your phone, but at this stage SMS is the weakest option for 2FA. Text messages can be intercepted and redirected, and it&#8217;s a much better idea to install a free app on your phone to generate an authentication code instead \u2013 among the ones available are <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/accounts\/answer\/1066447\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/accounts\/answer\/1066447\" rel=\"noopener\">Authenticator<\/a><span> (opens in new tab)<\/span> from Google and <a href=\"https:\/\/authy.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/authy.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Authy<\/a><span> (opens in new tab)<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The weakness of SMS 2FA begs the question of why Twitter didn&#8217;t just ditch it altogether \u2013 but it would seem that there are still users who genuinely need this functionality. It&#8217;s not clear how big this group is, but anyone still in it is now going to have to pay for the privilege of getting their 2FA codes sent over SMS.<\/p>\n<p>One of the risks here is that SMS 2FA users who don&#8217;t want to pay will simply switch off 2FA completely \u2013 something we definitely wouldn&#8217;t recommend. To keep your account as secure as possible, get 2FA set up and use a mobile app as the authentication method, whether or not you&#8217;re subscribed to Twitter Blue.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/news\/watch-out-tweetdeck-userselon-musk-is-about-to-ruin-your-twitter-experience\">Watch out, TweetDeck users \u2013 Elon Musk is about to ruin your Twitter experience<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div data-hydrate=\"true\" data-reactroot id=\"slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent\">\n<section>\n<p>Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<div data-reactroot id=\"slice-container-authorBio\">\n<p>Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you&#8217;ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/news\/twitter-makes-sms-two-factor-authentication-exclusive-to-twitter-blue-users\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Raleigh Menjivar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Software There&#8217;s more change for Twitter users (Image credit: Nathan Dumlao\/Unsplash) Changes are afoot at Twitter, again: the social network owned by Elon Musk has announced that securing accounts via SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) is going to be an option exclusive to paying Twitter Blue users from this point on.As per the blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":609749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[397,46,687],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-609748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-makes","category-technology","category-twitter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}