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How to transfer your Google Authenticator account to a new phone
The process has never been smoother
Using two-factor authentication (2FA) apps ensures your account is safe behind two layers of security. 2FA apps make it difficult for hackers to access your web accounts. Google Authenticator and Authy are two popular options. However, a turn-off to Google's solution is how the codes are stored on your device. They are encrypted using a key that's specific to that phone. You can't access the codes anywhere else.
Google vows to fix a glaring omission in Authenticator's cloud backup
End-to-end encryption will be added eventually
Google recently added a long-requested feature to its Authenticator app: the ability to back up 2FA codes to the cloud. The new feature syncs 2FA tokens across your devices via your Google account, addressing a major inconvenience in the app's previous implementation of two-factor authentication. However, shortly after the rollout, a team of security researchers warned against enabling cloud backup in the app, saying it's not end-to-end encrypted. According to a product manager at Google, this will be fixed down the line.
The internet has always been a place where you need to be careful about how and with whom you share your personal information. But as we live more of our lives online and more of the services upon which we depend are based on the web, the need to be secure with our critical personal data has dramatically increased (if you need security in the real world, take a look at the Blink Outdoor camera).
How to use Google Authenticator or Authy to keep your accounts secure
The best way to stay safe online
Internet fraudsters are always looking for accounts to hack in hopes of getting access to valuable personal information. History has proven that passwords are no longer sufficient to safeguard you. So, it's best to secure your online profiles as much as possible with other methods. Security systems like two-factor authentication (2FA) have been developed over the years to provide an additional step to the login process. This ensures that dubious characters cannot access your account even if they manage to get a hold of your passwords.
The Google Authenticator app is an essential security tool for many people, even as several alternatives currently exist in the market. In May this year, Google introduced the relatively minor "Click to reveal PIN" feature, which hides all two-factor authentication codes from view, allowing users to reveal only the codes they want to use. It seemed like a fairly innocuous inclusion, considering that 2FA codes change every 30 seconds anyway. But Google apparently doesn't see it that way, as the feature has disappeared from the Authenticator app following an update last week.
Google Authenticator's first update in years tweaks how you access security codes
The minor changes are welcome, but other authentication apps have clearly raced ahead
Google has been a huge proponent in popularizing two-factor authentication to make logins more secure, whether you use an alternate device prompt or a hardware key. However, you could say that the company hasn't exactly been as enthused about its own authenticator app as its last big update came in May 2020. A new update is finally on its way out, and it contains some new, albeit minor features that will layer on extra secrecy when it comes to moving those one-time codes around.
Ring brings its users a welcome dose of privacy as end-to-end video encryption goes global
Plus authenticator support and no-hassle product transfers
Amazon-owned subsidiary Ring is putting more security into its security, so to speak. The company is expanding availability of video end-to-end encryption worldwide, launching support for authenticator apps as a second step to verify logins, and making ownership transfer of Ring products easier.
Google Authenticator gets its first update in years, finally lets you transfer accounts between devices (APK Download)
It also doesn't look so painfully 2017-ish now
The Google Authenticator app has undergone its first facelift since 2017, making the jump from version 5.0 to 5.10. But the visual makeover — including a much-needed adaptation to newer phones' aspect ratios — belies a major change that will make it easy for you to port your keys over to another phone.
2FA apps like Google Authenticator reportedly vulnerable to malware snooping
The trojan primarily targets banking apps
Using app-generated one-time passcodes (OTPs) is perhaps the easiest and most cost-effective way to add a second authentication layer to all your online accounts and services. They eliminate almost any chances of an unauthorized person accessing your accounts even if they’ve got hold of your passwords. But it would be a scary situation if the passcodes within those apps were compromised, and that's just the threat Google Authenticator is facing right now thanks to some banking malware.
Twitter has supported 2-factor authentication (2FA) via authenticator apps for quite a while already, but it has always required you to add a phone number to your account for recovery and backup purposes. Since tie-ins with phone numbers tend to add an additional security risk thanks to SIM swap attacks, this wasn't the best solution for everyone, and Twitter has heard its safety-conscious users. It is now possible to secure your account with 2FA without adding a phone number at all.