I finally turned on 2FA after my email got hit from a Starbucks in Manila
Last Tuesday I got a login alert for my main email at 3am, and the IP traced back to a cafe in Manila. I have never been to the Philippines. My password was the same one I had used since 2016, and I had been putting off two factor auth for years because it felt annoying. It took me about 8 minutes to set up an app on my phone, and I should have done it back when I first saw those warnings. Does anyone here use hardware keys like a YubiKey, and is it worth the $50 if I only really need to protect two accounts?
Waited way too long on this too, but I'm not sure the hardware key is the answer here. Eight minutes on an app already solved your problem, and a YubiKey means you can lock yourself out if you lose the thing, plus you need a backup key which doubles the cost. For two accounts, the app is honestly fine, that's kind of the whole point of free 2FA. The real lesson in your story isn't the key, it's the password you'd been reusing since 2016, so changing that and using different ones everywhere matters more than spending $50.