Elon Musk’s Twitter ownership’s most recent odd action has weakened the security of millions of accounts. Twitter revealed intentions to cease allowing users to secure their accounts using SMS-based two-factor authentication on February 17 unless they begin paying for a Twitter Blue subscription. However, there are more effective, cost-free, and convenient methods to keep your Twitter account private without using two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication, also known as 2FA or multi-factor authentication, is one of the most effective methods to secure your internet accounts from being compromised. 2FA requires you to sign in with your identity and password to a website, app, or service before confirming the login’s validity with another piece of information. The most frequent way to do this is to input a temporary number that is instantly created or sent to you.

This additional bit of information aids in establishing your identity as the user who is signing in. Even though there have been billions of online login breaches, the 2FA code is frequently generated or given by the gadget in your pocket. Any form of enabled two-factor verification is preferable to none. It isn’t wholly a failsafe, though. Security experts have been warning for years that SMS-based two-factor authentication is less safe than other 2FA alternatives.

That’s because data stealers can access 2FA messages and access accounts through SIM-swapping assaults, in which assailants compromise phone numbers. Simply put: Your best choice is to use a different 2FA method, even if it is a little less practical. Twitter stated in its statement that users had 30 days to stop using SMS-based 2FA and switch to a different choice. It claimed that in the past, “bad actors” had exploited the system. Twitter will “disable” using SMS texts for two-factor verification starting on March 20 unless you pay a fee. Pop-ups warning people to “remove text message two-factor authentication” prior to this date have already begun to appear.

Use a third-party authenticator app to secure your account

There are two superior alternatives to disabling 2FA on your Twitter account: authenticator applications and security keys. Both of them function according to the same concepts as SMS-based 2FA. You must go to Twitter, select Settings and privacy, Account access and security, Security, and then Two-factor verification to activate either of these options. You have the choice to use security credentials or an app for two-factor verification here.

Instead of sending your six-digit authentication code via SMS message, authenticator apps are constantly generating the codes themselves and are synced with the services you use. Authenticator apps list all the websites you have registered with them and display the codes you need to enter to log in. These codes refresh every 30 seconds. Each time you need to log in to a website or app, you visit the authenticator app after entering your username and password to get the authentication code instead of waiting for a text message. (It’s particularly helpful if your phone doesn’t have connectivity for some reason.)