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So I have also had this happen to me in the past which was one of the reasons I abandoned gmail completely. Am I understanding this right that you had the corr

So I have also had this happen to me in the past which was one of the reasons I abandoned gmail completely. Am I understanding this right that you had the correct password but no 2FA authentication and somehow a Firefox user agent on Linux triggered google mail servers to shut you out? I never really tried with chromium perhaps I can still retrieve old data (Google Support was obviously non existing on this issue).

authed 5y ago
Yes I had the correct password and no 2FA... yet they require some form of second-factor that I am not really aware of.
aj3 5y ago
It's not user agent, it's session (cookies, localStorage) that they didn't have in Firefox, but still had in Chromium. And this isn't Google specific at all.
- DoingIsLearning 5y ago
  But they just said they cleared cookies. Also I travel a fair share (used to) and never faced any issues with any other services except gmail. It's too stringent to assume the same machine/storage/ip are always used.
  - aj3 5y ago
    Right. Session is stored either in cookies or in Local Storage. Both get cleared when you "clean cookies". If there is no device session, next time you're trying to log in, service will ask to show the second factor (so that hacker can't steal your account through finding the password on some other website). Firefox didn't work, because person deleted session and didn't have second factor (nor backup auth methods). Chromium worked, because it still had device session. I'm traveling and using TOR and VPNs just like everybody else and haven't faced any issues. There most definitely is a problem with communicating security/accessibility tradeoffs to the public though, so I'm not putting blame on the op here.
batperson 5y ago
What do you use instead of gmail ?
- julianlam 5y ago
  The HN crowd generally looks favourably on Fastmail.
  - DoingIsLearning 5y ago
    For anecdata I am indeed using fastmail! :)

authed 5y ago

Yes I had the correct password and no 2FA... yet they require some form of second-factor that I am not really aware of.

aj3 5y ago

It's not user agent, it's session (cookies, localStorage) that they didn't have in Firefox, but still had in Chromium. And this isn't Google specific at all.

DoingIsLearning 5y ago
But they just said they cleared cookies. Also I travel a fair share (used to) and never faced any issues with any other services except gmail. It's too stringent to assume the same machine/storage/ip are always used.
- aj3 5y ago
  Right. Session is stored either in cookies or in Local Storage. Both get cleared when you "clean cookies". If there is no device session, next time you're trying to log in, service will ask to show the second factor (so that hacker can't steal your account through finding the password on some other website). Firefox didn't work, because person deleted session and didn't have second factor (nor backup auth methods). Chromium worked, because it still had device session. I'm traveling and using TOR and VPNs just like everybody else and haven't faced any issues. There most definitely is a problem with communicating security/accessibility tradeoffs to the public though, so I'm not putting blame on the op here.

batperson 5y ago

What do you use instead of gmail ?

julianlam 5y ago
The HN crowd generally looks favourably on Fastmail.
- DoingIsLearning 5y ago
  For anecdata I am indeed using fastmail! :)