Forum Discussion

Jupiter852's avatar
Jupiter852
New Contributor II
4 years ago

2FA, Cox email, and email Client software

I have a primary Cox account with two secondary accounts (each account can send/receive email).  2 Factor Authentication (2FA) has NOT been set up for access to the Cox account.  I am considering establishing 2FA but I don't understand the impact it would have on accessing email via client software.

The email accounts are accessed via the Thunderbird email client (running on Windows 10) and the iPhone Mail app.  The incoming email is accessed via POP.  For Thunderbird, the current authentication method is set as "Normal password" for both incoming and outgoing emails.  For iPhone Mail it is set to "Password".  It all works well.

If I apply 2FA to my primary Cox account, what changes do I need to make - if any - to read and send emails using Thunderbird and iPhone Mail?

I just don't understand how 2FA would work with email clients, e.g. would the client software have to respond with some type of validation code each time?  And if so, how does one do that?  I have read some of the older posts regarding 2FA in the forum, but they don't explicitly address the above.

Thank you for any suggestions you have.

  • BrianM's avatar
    BrianM
    4 years ago
    This would not apply to accessing email from a third-party client, only for when signing in to cox.com and or webmail on cox.com

    Brian
    Cox Support Forum Moderator
  • BrianM's avatar
    BrianM
    Moderator
    4 years ago
    This would not apply to accessing email from a third-party client, only for when signing in to cox.com and or webmail on cox.com

    Brian
    Cox Support Forum Moderator
    • Jupiter852's avatar
      Jupiter852
      New Contributor II
      3 years ago

      Thanks for the information, Brian.  Have now implemented 2FA and confirmed that the email send and receive capabilities work just as before for both Thunderbird and iPhone for each account.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III
    4 years ago

    Some email clients support 2FA but Cox doesn't mandate it.  If T-bird is configured with your password and encryption (TLS or SSL), you are technically using 2 of the factors.

    For those clients supporting and configured for 2FA, Cox, for example, would text a code and the client would prompt for the code...or whichever authentication you chose:  bio scan, impromptu action, etc.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III
    4 years ago

    If an email provider mandates 2FA, T-bird does support OAuth2.  I read about a bug a few versions ago, so its users would have to confirm if it works.