Two Step Authentication via wifi?
-
I live in an area in New Zealand which does not have cell-phone coverage but we do have wifi and adsl. Because of this I do not understand smart phone tech much at all. I do have an iPad if that helps but not one with a cellphone.
What I am wondering is whether there is a way I can do two-step authentication. If I only had to log in very occasionally, which is the case currently, then I could perhaps drive to where there is coverage but it could still involve a 20-30 minute delay between the sms being sent and my getting back to my pc.
Is there a way of working with wifi that allows me to receive and send sms. Can skype do it? Or Facetime? – in a way that works for authentication.
Thank you for any help and your patience with my lack of understanding.
Andrew
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
-
I flagged this for the staff to see what they can do – seems to me that my cell phone has a setting on it that lets it make phone calls etc using wifi – but not that familiar with the settings – only used it for data a few times
-
Hi,
Two step authentication is possible with an app like Authy or Google Authenticator. Once you add your WordPress.com account to the app, it will generate self destructing codes every 20-30 seconds, even when there is no internet connection (cell or Wi-Fi).
The problem is that if your lose your phone/iPad or delete the app, you will get locked out of your WordPress.com account. So, always keep the backup codes that WordPress provides in a safe place (like in the LastPass vault, or in a password protected zip file).
In Authy, you can turn on the option to keep a backup of your accounts (not your codes, just the accounts) with a password, so that you can restore them should you lose your phone or delete the app. I am not sure if Google Authenticator has this feature, yet, so I use Authy myself.
-
If you go any Two Step route – please make hard copies of the backup codes and put the copies in a very safe place you will not forget where they are
We have a regular parade of people into the help forum that are locked out of their account because they lost the phone, got a new phone and something did not transfer, phone had a complete memory reset or something like that – so the backup codes are very important
-
You should be able to set up two-step with Google Authenticator as described here:
Please do NOT use SMS for two step as that will likely be a nightmare for you. Also, as Auxclass notes, please make a hard copy of your backup codes.
- The topic ‘Two Step Authentication via wifi?’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 