4 ms·

Okay, thanks, now i get it i think

• neilv 3y ago
  The TOTP authenticator apps are usually initialized only once per account -- when the user first enables that 2FA for the account. The system is designed to assume that the user doing the initializing that one time is the legitimate user. (There's a bootstrapping problem for the authenticators, that the account provider needs to "trust once" that the user is legitimate. The best time to do that is as early as possible. Preferably when the account is set up, and before much value/dependence has been invested in the account.) After that first initialization of an authenticator for an account, anyone trying to initialize another authenticator would have the burden of trying to prove to the account provider that they aren't just an illegitimate person trying to bypass the 2FA. So, you probably can't just use email to do a "lost my authenticator lol", unless the account provider doesn't really care about 2FA, and has implemented it in a very weak way.