Google wants to ditch SMS authentication for Gmail accounts and replace it with a more secure method using QR codes.
Google confirmed that Gmail will soon no longer have SMS authentication. In exchange, users will be able to apply two-step verification with a QR code, Gmail spokesman Ross Richendrfer told Forbes. This is to “reduce the impact of rampant, global text message abuse.” The company did not yet announce when this new two-step verification will appear.
Verification QR codes
The use of text message codes in two-step verification has not been the most appropriate and secure login method for some time. According to Richendrfer, text message codes present numerous security challenges. Users are required to enter a text message code in addition to their password as additional security.
Because criminals today can much more easily hijack phone numbers and link them to other Gmail accounts, it is no longer a secure login method. “If a fraudster can easily trick a courier into getting someone’s phone number, any security value of text messaging disappears,” Richendrfer said.
Therefore, Google is working to ditch text messaging codes and replace them with QR codes. Users will then have to scan a QR code when signing in to prove it is them. How this will work and when it will be rolled out is not yet certain.