CRA now allows 2FA apps
axby @ axby @lemmy.ca Posts 4Comments 67Joined 2 yr. ago
axby @ axby @lemmy.ca
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Yes but you’re free to use an email provider which also supports security keys, which gmail and proton mail* do. I understand that the CRA needs to accommodate the average person who doesn’t care about security, but I think everyone in this thread appreciates when they also cater to people who care deeply about security and are willing to use strong unique passwords in a password manager and security keys or at least TOTP.
* it seems like they require keeping TOTP enabled because their mobile apps don’t support security keys. Meh.
This may sound like a wild fantasy to some, but the US IRS seems to have some partnership with ID.me which supports security keys. But I’m impressed that the CRA supports TOTP before major banks so maybe this could happen.
Granted they also have separate logins for state income tax and California is… well let me just say that I’m grateful that the CRA doesn’t force you to reset your password every 4ish months. (California state income tax (FTB?) does).
Ah, I hadn’t heard of the SSL issue, thanks for sharing!
I’ve noticed that Tangerine only allows for a 6 digit pin, but I think they might also allow for a security question and SMS 2FA? I started signing up with them and gave up when they required a Canadian cell number (I hadn’t yet switched due to high costs, but recently they’ve become surprisingly reasonable—ignoring roaming) and I saw the 6 digit pin password requirement.
I think it was also BMO that a friend told me required a maximum 8 character password until very recently?
Anyway overall, thanks for reassuring my suspicion: I should just pick one of the banks and not let “perfect” (or even “decent”) be the enemy of “almost adequate but not great”.
Thanks, I suspected this (I only see “authenticator app” when I log in on a new device or periodically, but I wasn’t sure.
Related: for finance related services like Questrade, I’ve stored my TOTP keys on a U2F key, Yubico in my case. Besides the hassle of managing physical keys, is there any drawback to this approach? I’m slightly worried I’ll lose all my keys in a house fire or something, but I assume there’s a recovery option.
Unfortunately I think this is the norm with big banks in Canada, and it is similar to a credit union in the US from when I briefly lived there. Security seems to be a second priority to people losing access (presumably only briefly, since they have brick and mortar locations everywhere).
Wealthsimple and Questrade seem to support TOTP but I’m not sure if you can still bypass it with SMS. I don’t think so but I haven’t dug into it.
I’ve used CIBC before and they also seem to require keeping SMS 2FA enabled. Also they send me fraud alerts over SMS, “respond Y to authorize this suspicious transaction”, and I’m dreading the day where I have to enable roaming while travelling just to send a text. They send push notifications through the app to login on a new device though, so maybe in 10 years they’ll do it for transaction approval too.
Also aside about TD: is there really no way to download a CSV file of all your transactions? My partner uses them and I think we were limited to 18 months, and may have even had to download each much separately (luckily I can use use a program like cat to workaround this, but that seems like a pain for most people). CIBC has irritated me in a lot of ways but I think I can download transactions from back to 2012 when I first opened my credit card, maybe earlier.
Do you or anyone know about other big banks? My partner and I are looking into a joint account and I want to be able to download all transactions to CSV. Ideally we could get TOTP only (no SMS 2FA) but I’m not counting on it.
Thanks, I edited my comment. No idea how I missed that it was 30 seconds for all this time. It looks like my own TOTP codes are even 30 seconds so I don’t know what I was thinking.
It looks like you may be able to disable SMS 2FA entirely? It’s unclear to me (edit: if this is a viable option):
Can I stop getting Short Messaging Service (SMS) messages for CRA's Multi-factor authentication?
Yes. You can text "STOP" to 27223 or reply "STOP" to the message containing your one-time passcode to stop receiving SMS messages to that telephone number in the future. However, it is important to note that CRA's Multi-factor authentication (MFA) service is mandatory and a passcode is required to sign in to the CRA's sign-in services. Texting "STOP" will prevent your telephone from receiving an SMS message with your passcode in the future. Without the passcode, you will be unable to access the CRA sign-in services using this option and will need to choose an alternate MFA option to use. This option applies only to Canadian telephone numbers.
I’ll probably leave it enabled anyway just in case (given that I only log in to CRA once per year or so), but I applaud the potential of relying on TOTP only, and not allowing SMS 2FA as a “back door”.
Also big pro is that they allow third party TOTP apps instead of making their own like TD and even Steam (bundling it into their main app).
Not OP but I wanted to read more (edit: about CRA’s approach to TOTP, before getting the chance to try it myself), I searched and found this: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/e-services/cra-login-services/multi-factor-authentication-access-cra-login-services.html#toc3
What is a third-party authenticator app?
A third-party authenticator app can be installed on an app enabled mobile or desktop device to be used for MFA. The app store offers many free third-party authenticator app options to choose from. Users will need to download an app that is compatible with the CRA sign-in services.
Using the app, the user scans a QR code with a mobile device when prompted. If unable to scan the QR code the user can manually enter the setup key the CRA provides into the app. The app will now be set up and the user will not have to complete this step again.
The app will then generate a 6 digit Time-Based One-Time Passcode (TOTP). When signing in to the CRA sign-in services users will be required to enter a one-time passcode provided by the app. For security, the app will generate a new TOTP every 30 seconds.
Edit: This is awesome, I’m so glad I can switch away from SMS 2FA on yet another service (and such an important one). But I am curious about a few things, see below.
Some thoughts:
- (edit: my bad, I thought 60 seconds was more common but I checked my other TOTP and they seem to be 30 seconds)
why is it 30 seconds instead of 60 seconds? I’m pretty sure every other TOTP I’ve seen is 60 seconds. What is the benefit of this? Someone has 30 fewer seconds to read the code over your shoulder and log in on their device? - TD offers a passcode generator app, but it seems like you can’t disable SMS 2FA, so if you’re worried about SIM jacking then you are out of luck. Presumably they’re worried about people losing their device with the TOTP secret, but I usually back that up on multiple devices and have recovery codes. I think all the big banks are similar. Edit: I’m curious to know what CRA does, but I’m away from my PC right now.
- nit: the previous login requires you to re enter the code from SMS 2FA or the grid thing every 8 hours I believe. But most other services seem to let you persist a cookie on the device for 30 days or so, presumably because cookie theft isn’t a huge risk, and because entering your password alone is enough to prevent other people with access to your computer from accessing your sensitive CRA account
Anyway, sorry for the negativity. This is a great step and I shouldn’t focus on negative things. I just hate how accounts I don’t care much about like Facebook (and formerly Runescape) accounts seem to be more secure from malicious logins than my bank and possibly CRA accounts.
Must be this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Toronto_van_attack
The attack is characterized as misogynist terrorism because it was motivated by revenge for perceived sexual and social rejection by women. At the time of his arrest, Minassian described himself as an incel to the police and in prior social media postings, and described the attack as the continuation of an "incel rebellion", started by the late Elliot Rodger.[11]
Sorry for the mobile Wikipedia link.
Ah, the comparison to Epic helps me understand a bit... maybe. Are they simply worried about PS5 "winning" and Xbox disappearing? I don't worry that Steam will ever disappear because of Epic and don't care if they get games (in fact I have an epic account just to claim the free games, but I don't really play them because they don't support Linux). But if Steam did disappear in favour of Epic, I would be pissed. I wouldn't care if there's a merger or rebranding as long as Linux support and my existing library is maintained.
Even still... worst case, they buy a PS5, and get all the same games and more? A friend of mine switched from Xbox to PS and thought it was pretty good. I do prefer the Xbox thumbstick placement over PS5, though. I guess they'd also lose their Xbox friends/following/achievements/etc. Though surely it would, at worst, be merged into PS.
But still, even if you're worried about this backfiring and Xbox disappearing... it seems worth the risk, to me. Presumably there are some good PS exclusives that could come to Xbox?
I'm really trying hard to figure out how this isn't just fanboy whining and I'm coming up short. I'm interested in other ideas!
I couldn’t understand why this would be anything besides good news, but I guess they’re worried that the hardware won’t get as much focus?
(I’m out of the loop, I play PC games now and haven’t bought a console since the Xbox 360 back in… 2008 or so? I forget)
“It’s so easy to see Xbox is killing its hardware and putting a stake in the heart of it by doing this,” he said. “And there’s no going back… it’s dead.”
He later tweeted: “Xbox could have killed Game Pass, say buy our exclusives and focus on our hardware and that’s 100 percent the better idea [than to] SAY LETS KILL EXCLUSIVES AND put Halo on PS5. The outrage would be half of this and guess what you might be back to having a healthy business.”
It still seems like an over reaction to me. Exclusives have always seemed bad. I’m just glad games are getting released on PC, though I haven’t played many AAA games in a while.
I still prefer a physical SIM for my main cell plan, but when travelling to other countries it is so amazing to be able to just download an eSIM and avoid roaming fees. Airalo is quite convenient, but I hear it’s getting pricey compared to other options.
Plus with dual SIM I can disable roaming on my main SIM but still receive texts for free, but use data for cheap with the local eSIM at the same time.
Disclaimer: I live in Canada which has some of the most expensive cell plans in the world. Roaming in the US is $13 CAD/day and $16 CAD/day in the rest of the world. That seems like blatant extortion to me, they can’t blame Canada’s large size for expensive roaming fees (right?). I think US plans are a lot better, and I assume European cell plans are generally even cheaper.
Edit: I prefer physical SIMs for my main plan because if my main phone is dead or broken, I can just pop the physical SIM in an old phone that I bring while travelling. Until eSIMs can be somehow transferred like that, I don’t see myself using them for my main cell plan. Just remember to set a SIM PIN so that if someone steals your phone, they can’t use your SIM card to receive 2FA texts.
Edit 2: eSIMs are generally a pain to transfer between phones. I think my cell provider lets you do it online by scanning a QR code, but I know some make you call them and read 16 digit codes over the phone. Some even charge a small fee. I dread the day where other cell phone manufacturers follow what Apple did in the US (I think?) and make eSIMs the only option.
Awesome, thanks for confirming my suspicion that air travel is too overpowered. I feel better about giving OpenTTD another try some time. It’s hard to find time where we’re both free and in the mood to learn a new game. Plus I much prefer just figuring something out myself over reading comprehensive guides (I don’t mind looking up specific things).
I’m also excited to look into mods!
A thousand times, yes. I love Factorio and want to get my partner into it, but she finds the logistics tedious and doesn’t like the gritty art style. We love Cities Skylines (the original, I haven’t tried this new one yet). There aren’t enough city builders (or games focused on building and without much combat) that have good multiplayer.
Does anyone have any recommendations for that? We loved Stardew Valley but I want something with more building. The multiplayer mod for Rimworld works pretty well. I considered vanilla Minecraft but it seems like the buildings don’t feel important enough without mods like FTB.
OpenTTD seems like it should be exactly what we want (also it’s free! And runs on weak hardware, and mobile), but maybe we were playing it wrong. Airports seem to give way too much easy money. And when we first played through we only made transportation for passengers, and I think we should have focused more on industry. I tried it again myself later and did better after focusing on industry, but it still seemed like airports were better money (and way easier).
Awesome, thanks for sharing this! I haven't gotten into audiobooks yet, but it's good to know that there are user friendly options out there.
Vaguely related: it's also possible to listen to audio books through local libraries in some cases. I think the app is not as friendly, and does a lot to prevent you from getting DRM free mp3s, but at least there's no charge.
Thanks, this is somewhat reassuring. Maybe some day I'll try it. I used to like tinkering with things, but lately I haven't had as much patience or free time.
Ah, I actually have bought a few music CDs a while ago, and they were actually fairly easy to rip myself. I can't complain about that at all. If ripping DVDs was that easy then I would probably enthusiastically buy a few DVD boxsets. But I don't really want to buy dedicated hardware just to read DVDs on my PC to do a cumbersome ripping process, and also probably lug that hardware (or the entire PC) to my TV now and then to watch a movie.
I've been interested in vinyl for a while, does it really sound better?
Ah, good point. I had briefly heard of this and was shocked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code
For anyone who hasn't heard:
This is achieved by way of region-locked DVD players, which will play back only DVDs encoded to their region (plus those without any region code).
This definitely furthers the original post's point. And he may have even mentioned it.
It's infuriating that you can pay for something and then move, and lose your collection. This comes to mind: https://xkcd.com/488/
To clarify on this: even the people who use gibberish as their password and don’t store it and rely on password resets via email are actually somewhat safe if their email is also highly safe. Maybe their password strategy for CRA implies they don’t take their email password security seriously either… but still, my point is just that “at least as secure as your email” can be an incredibly high bar if you do it right