Mandatory Two-Step Authentication (Verification) a Bad Idea

[ChrisKay]

Making this mandatory is an exceedingly bad idea since it will slow down authentication and when it breaks—and it occasionally will—it will prevent access completely.  At least give the end-user the option of deciding how much protection to require for the account.

[oNeRf]

"We don't know what's going on, but we haven't been prompted for 2FA on any of our devices thus far."

It still doesn't record unless you activate 2FA and provide them with your personal information.

[dcfox1]

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@oNeRf wrote:

It still doesn't record unless you activate 2FA and provide them with your personal information.

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I do not have 2fa activated and still have recordings. 

[oNeRf]

Did you activate it at one time and turned it off? I never activated it before.

[dcfox1]

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@oNeRf wrote:

Did you activate it at one time and turned it off? I never activated it before.

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I activated in Mid November Just to experiment with it again then turned it off. I have not activated it since. 

[eelpout]

I activated mine sometime in early Dec. I think.

The SMS verification (for web) started working for me yesterday. I should have come back and posted that earlier. 🙂

[oNeRf]

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@dcfox1 wrote:

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@oNeRf wrote:

Did you activate it at one time and turned it off? I never activated it before.

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I activated in Mid November Just to experiment with it again then turned it off. I have not activated it since. 

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I think that's why it worked for you and not me. You already gave the NSA your number. They have free access to your home. Don't you find it fishy it works once you give up your privacy?

[dcfox1]

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@oNeRf wrote:

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@dcfox1 wrote:

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@oNeRf wrote:

Did you activate it at one time and turned it off? I never activated it before.

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I activated in Mid November Just to experiment with it again then turned it off. I have not activated it since. 

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I think that's why it worked for you and not me. You already gave the NSA your number. They have free access to your home. Don't you find it fishy it works once you give up your privacy?

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What?? I turned it off before it was required. I don't thinks the NSA is monitoring my woods outside. Mabey they like the deer. 

[oNeRf]

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@dcfox1 wrote:

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@oNeRf wrote:

I think that's why it worked for you and not me. You already gave the NSA your number. They have free access to your home. Don't you find it fishy it works once you give up your privacy?

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What?? I turned it off before it was required. I don't thinks the NSA is monitoring my woods outside. Mabey they like the deer. 

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But you already gave them your number. It doesn't matter if you turned it off. You might not care but some do.

[dcfox1]

What number?? 

[KachinaShadow]

Started yesterday...even after logging in on my PC and receiving a one-time authentication code, Arlo randomly texts me another one-time authentication code even though I've already logged in to Arlo on the PC. The additional code shows up totally at random while I am currently logged in.

Also as of yesterday...when I login to My Arlo on my Android using fingerprint ID, Arlo sends a one-time authentication code that I don't need since I am already logged in by using my fingerprint.

It's never done either of these prior to yesterday and I'm not sure what they've changed to cause this...geeze! 🙄

Paul

[oNeRf]

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@dcfox1 wrote:

What number?? 

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Phone number. It gets cross-referenced to you, your address, etc.

[dcfox1]

@oNeRf  I am sure the NSA as you said already has my phone number if they want it to spy on me. 

[CCNE37]

Paul

Silly question - why don't you just turn 2FA off if it is bothering you ?

[MikeLloyd]

@CCNE37

You're... joking right? The whole point of this thread is that Arlo is making 2FA mandatory...

[oillogger]

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@MikeLloyd wrote:
You're... joking right? The whole point of this thread is that Arlo is making 2FA mandatory...

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Agree!!!  Beam me up Scotty.

[KachinaShadow]

@CCNE37 

Why would that be a silly question and did I say that it was bothering me? 

My whole point is that 2FA, which I don't mind using, was working just fine but like a lot of Arlo features just decides all of a sudden to malfunction and I thought that I might get some sort of intelligent feedback from a moderator or someone else that may be experiencing the same thing...instead what I get is you telling me that it was a silly question (and there was no question there...only observations).

So unless you have some constructive input then please keep your silly comments to yourself.

[parsrgood]

Disabling/enabling is one thing. Getting slammed constantly with prompts about how if we don't turn on 2FA our accounts can be compromised is another. It's annoying. We get it Arlo. Or should I say, we get it Karen. 

[MikeLloyd]

Agreed. My password is at greater risk from Arlo getting hacked than by me getting phished. I'm a big boy and I know how to keep my stuff secure.

[KachinaShadow]

@parsrgood 

"Getting slammed constantly with prompts about how if we don't turn on 2FA our accounts can be compromised is another. It's annoying"

Kind of like finding out that you cannot cross-trigger a camera that has activity zones set so you remove the activity zone only to be reminded that you should enable this wonderful feature called "activity zones".

Strange that they tout cross-triggering and activity zones in their advertising but don't tell you that the two can't coexist...but since this was just a reply to your "getting slammed constantly", it is however off topic for this thread so I'll leave it at that 😁

Paul

[parsrgood]

@MikeLloyd 

In a nut shell. Nicely said MikelLloyd

[parsrgood]

@KachinaShadow 

It's getting to the point that we no longer have control over a product WE paid for. We buy items after researching and comparing. So.......... when the manufacturer forces updates to firmware and apps we no longer have what we paid for. We have what some overpaid silicon valley  engineer thinks we'll like.

[KachinaShadow]

@parsrgood 

Totally agree 😎

[CCNE37]

Mike

I am not joking. Arlo's current 2FA is rubbish and it is NOT currently mandatory, so it can easily be turned off until either Arlo fixes it's rubbish and makes it workable, or they do make it mandatory.

If the latter, then we have just cause to **bleep** about it being a poor implementation, but until then, it is optional, so if it is bothering a person, just turn it off - seems sort of obvious to me.

IMO Arlo is clearly a bunch of morons who don't really give a hoot about their customers, BUT at least with this 2FA, they do appear to be listening to some degree because they keep postponing the date it will go mandatory, so in my view I will leave it off (because like many others I don't believe I need it) until something changes - if it ain't broke .....

[CCNE37]

I am not getting constantly slammed by any reminders. The only time I see them s when I log into these forums. I generally use my desktop for Arlo viewing etc, and I see no reminders there at all.

[MikeLloyd]

Yeah this is correct.

I'm at the point now where I'm abandoning Arlo since this breaks all my smart home integrations and forces me into something I don't want. I've built my own self-hosted security camera system that gives me all the benefits of Arlo and none of the drawbacks. And I'll get 24/7 recording and non-expiring storage with no monthly fees.

I encourage you guys to look into this option. It's not that hard to set up and is cheaper than buying Arlo hardware.