Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I very explicitly do not have 2FA enabled on my email account, and it's also the only account that's not a random password from my password manager but rather a (very) strong password I memorized.

Maybe my house will get burgled, maybe I will lose all my stuff in travel, or a fire, or ... I don't know. Email is kind of the key to everything, which makes 2FA important, but can also a huge pain in all sorts of exceptional situations, and losing access to your email often means losing access to lots of other stuff, too.

I feel account access is still an unsolved problem; 2FA is a meh stop-gap solution at best with lots of trade-offs. Ideally your account should be tied to your identity (e.g. passport or the like) in a privacy-secure manner.



Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: