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Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure

tech.vijayp.ca

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Re: Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure

#101

Post by [deleted] »

gist wrote: post #87
exelius wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right; so instead they've built their security model around assumptions that other companies' (namely telcos) account processes are secure. That way Google can say "it's not our fault; we can't do anything about it!" It's called externalizing your costs, and Google is exceptionally good at it.

> Right; so instead they've built their security model around assumptions that other companies' (namely telcos) account processes are secure. That way Google can say "it's not our fault; we can't do anything about it!" No, they've built their model on the fact that for the vast majority of their users this will never be an issue. Maybe a celebrity, maybe an important target but the average user, never going to matter…

[deleted]

Re: Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure

#102

Post by doubt_me »

exelius wrote: post #12

> I'm curious [...] why Google doesn’t temporarily disable accounts so impacted until a human reviews activity. Because Google doesn't have humans reviewing anything unless there's a direct link to marginal revenue/cost avoidance attached to that interaction that can be priced in. Their business model is to achieve scale through automation and machine learning; which means not doing things that would require manual i…

Like how I have more than enough information to get one of my old accounts back but their Automated Response Forms reject everything. Even the moderators on the gmail support forums rejected my claims as well and pretty much said "deal with it".

Re: Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure

#103

Post by knz »

hughes wrote: post #58
lukasb wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work at Google (I don't work on this stuff though, so I'm basically just another random commenter.) We do send an email when you log in from a new device. What would you do if you got an email about failed attempts to login / reset password?

I get notifications about that from Facebook sometimes. It is a bit unnerving to hear that someone is attempting to repeatedly log in with my email address, but it certainly prompts me to make sure my accounts are locked down well.

Do you have an email address that may be similar to others?

My work recently implemented a login process for customers and it was surprising how many user errors we had related to names/emails that were similar (so bob@gmail.com vs nob@gmail.com etc - these were not the actual addresses but you get the idea).

Re: Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure

#104

Post by peterjlee »

Once I had my SIM card stuck in my phone. So when I wanted to use a different phone, I bought a new SIM card kit online and brought it to a T-mobile store. I told the clerk my SIM card is stuck in this phone so I want to transfer my number to the new SIM card. He asked for my phone number then scanned the new SIM card and transferred the number. I didn't have to provide any identity or proof that I actually own the number. It's scary how easy stealing someone's phone number can be.

Re: Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure

#105

Post by ensignavenger »

jasonjayr wrote: post #89
antocv wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the time to get to know https://mail.yandex.com Seriously, the interface is so much better than todays gmail, its astonishing. There is no spam either, and no ads.

The email account is not the issue; I run my own email server with all the fun that brings. It's that the Chrome Books really need separate Google accounts otherwise, settings + notifications to end up replicated to all of them. And yes, I have a greater than average number of children. I feel as if the only way forward is to purchase a google for business account, and add them all there :-/

Install a different Linux distro on them?

Re: Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure

#106

Post by givinguflac »

jasonjayr wrote: post #29
x1798DE wrote: post #4

I don't think it's possible to make a Google account without a phone number anymore. It's really unfortunate, especially because I deliberately don't set up fallback contacts for my "alternate" gmail accounts, and Google keeps locking them as suspicious when I log in from a second location, and I need to "verify" with a phone number any time that happens (at which point I abandon the account). I understand that they…

I've several children, and can no longer make Google accounts for their Chromebooks. All the phone numbers I have and control can no longer be used to register further accounts. What happens to users that buy a new Android cell phone who's number has been burned by Google?

Ironically you could create google voice numbers as a workaround

Re: Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure

#107

Post by Zancarius »

balls187 wrote: post #75

Recently my wife, without any identification, went to Tmobile and was able to have my account automatically canceled and added to a new joint family account. She went with my knowledge, but TMobile never called to confirm. After which my phone no longer had service, and I had to install a new sim card prior. While she did this with my knowledge, I no longer have access to make changes to the account, until she adds m…

My mum had something similar happen with Verizon albeit as an act of fraud against her account. Her phone was working one day then mysteriously stopped working the next. She didn't think much of it, but as a matter of happenstance had picked up her bill a couple of days later to find that someone had managed to attach a new phone to her account (under a new contract no less!). According to the fraud rep, the switch took place in a Target nearby and was likely done without any identification other than the phone number. Eerily similar.

Re: Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure

#108

Post by givinguflac »

eveningcoffee wrote: post #20
fullmetaleng wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When is the last time you tried? I have created a gmail account couple of weeks back without providing phone number and recovery email.

I did it. Then they banned it. Having my phone number or any other hard identifier is none of Googles business.

I have a google account without a phone number, but it's always been that way so they probably aren't going to ban me... I hope at least until I finish migrating

Re: Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure

#109

Post by whamlastxmas »

chris_wot wrote: post #65
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why last weekend I moved to FastMail. I've filed two support tickets since, and both were responded to in an hour or two. For the trivial cost of half a Netflix subscription, the most vital thing I have on the Internet is supported by real people. It's hard to justify Gmail these days other than the frustration of migrating off of it. As a side perk, Australia has no equivalent to a National Security Letter,…

Hopefully NSLs will be eventually ruled unconstitutional in the U.S. also.

Not if we can't get past the he-said-she-said politics. People are voting for personalities over issues more than ever, and I don't see that trend reversing.

Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho 2020.

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