Back in 2015 a guy at a coffee shop taught me about 2FA

I was updating my blog on the public WiFi in Seattle when this dude next to me said "you might wanna turn on two-factor before you lose that account." He showed me how to set it up on my phone right there and it took maybe 3 minutes. Has anyone else had a random stranger save them from a hack?

2 comments

2 Comments

ben_nguyen29d ago

Man I gotta disagree a little bit here. @the_evan, that old lady thing is a cool story but it feels more like luck than a real save. The random stranger with 2FA is different because he actually showed you a legit security tool you could use forever, not just a one-time warning about a specific scam. Phishing warnings are good but they're generic advice everyone already kinda knows. Getting hands on help setting up 2FA on your actual phone in 3 minutes is way more impactful because most people just never bother to do it otherwise. I respect the sentiment but I think the 2FA guy actually changed how you protect yourself long term, not just saved you from one bad link.

the_evan1mo ago

My buddy Dave had an old lady at a library warn him about phishing scams and it saved his email.