Hands-On Tech 244 Transcript
Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show.
Mikah Sargent [00:00:00]:
Coming up on Hands-On Tech, let's take a look at the process of switching multifactor authentication apps and or services. Stay tuned. Hello and welcome to yet another thrilling episode of Hands-On Tech. The episode the show rather where I, Mikah Sargent, take your tech questions and do my dadgum best to answer them. Today we are looking at a question that comes in from Daniel. Daniel writes in with the following: Your most recent episode of Hands-On Tech brought up a question that I've been thinking about.
Mikah Sargent [00:00:44]:
I am currently using Authy for my multi factor codes and I realize my mistake that I can't get them out easily to go to another device. A friend had recommended I go to Proton which does allow exporting. So I'm fine either going to Proton or Microsoft or Google. I'm just dreading the work. So for example, what would I need to do? I would have to go to like my Gmail account settings and turn off Multifactor and then turn it back on to get that barcode to set it up with whatever new authentication app I moved to. So Daniel, this is a great question. As I mentioned in the episode where we talked about multi factor authentication apps, the question was more at the time just about sort of generally what I recommend and my you can learn more in that episode. But my sort of end result was to say that for me and for many people it's enough to just use your password management app as your multi factor authentication app as well.
Mikah Sargent [00:01:46]:
Some people want to have those as separate services. But we talked about Authy and my complaints that I had about Authy, which is primarily the fact that it tries to do multi factor authentication in a bit of a proprietary way where it works specifically with some developers to provide kind of a built in system that again it's different from the other ways of doing multi factor authentication where you simply just get a code that is based on a specific time and a shared secret. So in that way Authy is not my recommendation and Daniel appears to want to make that switch as well. Unfortunately, the process for moving from Authy used to be a little bit more easy. That's not the unfortunate part. The unfortunate part is that now it's become more difficult. The reason why it used to be easier and is now more difficult is that the desktop app has been deprecated and so with the desktop app there were some easier export options that people could take that you can no longer take. So Daniel, in kind of making sure that I understood what methods were available to you in terms of exporting or exfiltrating your codes from Authy.
Mikah Sargent [00:03:14]:
It does look like we have to follow the good old fashioned way of handling Multi Factor Authentication switches. Now this is something that is not entirely uncommon of a process. You know, you may have a need to do this and so if you do, then the way that you go about doing it is you log into your account using Authy, in this case your existing Multi Factor Authentication method and you go into your login settings. It's a little bit like what you talked about, Daniel. You go in and depending on the app or the service, you're going to see different, different wording. You may see change authenticator app, you may see set up new device, you may see just yes, the, the ability to turn off Multi Factor Authentication and then have to re enable it. Whatever is the case, you do need to go in and do that in order to set up Multi Factor Authentication on a new, new app or a new service. Now again, that is frustrating, right? Because depending on how many authentication codes you've set up using Authy or means of Multi Factor Authentication you've set up using Authy, that could take a while, but that is what it takes.
Mikah Sargent [00:04:37]:
The good news is once you're out of Authy and you're using a much more standardized approach to this Multi Factor Authentication, it's going to be much more portable at that point. So you do this once, you move to something more portable and then you're good to go from there, which is, you know, at least it's a one time deal that you've set up here. So that is the process for doing so. And I want to talk a little bit in a moment about some warnings that I have for you as you go through this process.
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Mikah Sargent [00:06:35]:
So when it comes to going through this process and you know, looking at ways to export, I with my whole heart, with my, my, you know, my two hands clasped together, pleading, I say follow the process I just talked about because you can do a little Google or do another kind of search online and type in export Authy tokens and you will learn about some other ways of exporting your Authy tokens and using them for other devices. But this is shady stuff, or at least when it comes to, again, multifactor authentication, a shady way to go about doing it. There are ways to use jailbroken Android devices to export from the Authy app your codes. There's also a very complicated way of again, if you somehow still have the desktop version of Authy, and if you don't have a desktop version of Authy, the sites will point you to a desktop version of Authy, which any security person out there or even someone who's vaguely security minded will go because it's essentially saying, oh yeah, download this app that may or may not actually be from Authy, but is showing up as if it's the Authy desktop app and log into it and use that and then you'll be able to get your codes. All of this is very risky when it comes to getting your Multi Factor Authentication codes out of Authy. And so I understand the desire for the convenience of being able to sort of select all and move, but it is not worth it to run the risk of having those codes scooped up and used in other means. So, Daniel, ultimately do this once. Get those codes to where you're wanting them and then from that point on they become a lot more transferable and portable from that point going forward.
Mikah Sargent [00:08:49]:
So I'm gonna thank you, Daniel, for writing in to ask that question and I encourage everybody if you are looking for a multifactor authentication app to check out my earlier episode about that. Now, if you have questions for me yourself, you can reach out hot@twit.tv how you get in touch. Always looking for new questions, new ideas for episodes, and also always available to hear your feedback as well. Love to hear this worked for me. This didn't work for me. I heard you mention this and here's the stuff that I tried to do. All that kind of stuff. Very good, very interesting.
Mikah Sargent [00:09:31]:
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Mikah Sargent [00:10:00]:
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Mikah Sargent [00:10:41]:
That's how you get in touch. Thank you so much for your questions. Thank you for being here and I will catch you again next week for another episode of Hands-On Tech. Bye bye.
