Why do Microsoft and LinkedIn text me from the same number

authenticationlinkedinmicrosoftphone-numbersms

I recently enabled two-factor authentication everywhere I could, and many sites now text me when I log in. Nearly every company texts from a unique number, as I would expect. However, Microsoft and LinkedIn always text me from the same number (i.e. same as each other).

Does anyone know why?

Does this just say that Microsoft and LinkedIn are hiring the same third party to manage their two-factor?

Is there something more interesting going on there?

Best Answer

I don't know where you're located, but in my corner of the world, this is not unusual.

If you wish to push text messages, you will need to sign up with an SMS service provider. You can reserve a short, 4-digit number for your services, which is expensive.

Or you can reserve a keyword within a 4-digit number. The number is then shared among other services, which is a lot cheaper.

I'm guessing Microsoft and LinkedIn are simply using the same SMS service provider. As they are not (?) allowing users to respond to their messages, they don't need to reserve a short number.

So the answer to your question is: They may not be using the same third party to manage two-factor authentication, but they are using the same third party for SMS services.

Related Solutions

Gmail – How does Google’s new two-factor authentication work with IMAP, POP, etc.

What you need to do is generate an application-specific password for each client you want to authenticate to your Google account. Then enter the application-specific password instead of your password or password + verification code.

You can generate these application-specific passwords by going to this page (use your domain name instead of example.com):

https://www.google.com/a/example.com/IssuedAuthSubTokens?hl=en&service=mail

Google provides instructions for doing this on their Sign in to mobile or desktop apps page.

Removing useless connections from LinkedIn

To my knowledge, there is no all-in-one removal tool that is able to suggest who may be a good candidate to boot from your network (something similar to ManageFlitter for Twitter).

However, I can suggest two tools to assist you with trimming & organizing your network (which I personally use):

InMaps: Visualizes your network and identifies clusters/sub-networks, and relative "distance" (relevance) of connections to each network. It allows you to easily spot "fringe" connections that may be not that relevant (or possible in reverse to be "bridge" connection to new clusters). And it is a part of LinkedIn Labs.
MyWebCareer: More of an analytical dashboard-type tool (something of a Klout type). Also gives you a visual representation of your network which allows you to view sub-networks individually and indicating how a certain person is part of that network (current position vs. past position in a company). This can also suggest candidates for removal. However, in relation to your task it only be a complimentary tool to InMaps, I think. But it gives you some other functionality like giving scores about stuff, integrating Facebook and StackExchange-type sites into analysis.

Overall, I do agree that a smart network management tool is in order for LinkedIn. Let's hope it comes along soon!

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Gmail – How does Google’s new two-factor authentication work with IMAP, POP, etc.

Removing useless connections from LinkedIn

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