Summary
Network Solution is implementing a more secure login process with an option for two-factor authentication to be enabled.
Setup Process
There are three steps to setup the new security measures.
STEP #1 – PIN. When you initiate a login to Network Solutions you will first be asked to create a 6-digit numeric PIN that will be used in the future to verify that you are the account owner — presumably when you are talking to customer service you’ll be asked for the PIN. Other hosting companies, like GoDaddy, rely on a PIN for verification over the phone.
STEP #2 – PHONE. You will be asked to provide a trusted phone number that you can receive text messages on. Then you will confirm your ownership of the phone by entering a number sent as a text message to your phone. You can change this number later in your account security page.
STEP #3 – TWO FACTOR. You will be given an option to turn on two-factor authentication for your account. If you choose to skip this, you can enable it later in your account security page. You will receive a Recovery Key to access your account if two-factor fails or your phone isn’t available. The recovery key is a long string of numbers and lower case letters. You will want to save that in a safe place.
Authy App
Once you go through the above process, if you enable two-factor authentication, and if you already have the Authy authenticator app, you will noticed a new authentication account show up inside the Authy app. This will happen without you having opened the app and configured for Network Solutions. This may be because the Authy app is connected to your phone number.
As a result of the Authy app being automatically connected to your Network Solutions account, if you turn on two-factor authentication you will need to use the Authy generated token when logging into Network Solutions. The Authy app is available for Android and Apple devices.
Adding a Technical or Administrative Contact
If you are a web developer, your customers may want to add you as a technical or administrative contact to their accounts. When they go through this process, you will receive an email with a verification link. When you get that email and click on the link, it will take you to an older Network Solutions login page that isn’t compliant with the new two-factor login.
So, despite entering your correct username and password, the login page does not work and there is no way to enter your Authy app token.
You will need to turn off two factor authentication to use the verification link. Then the outdated login page works. Once you’ve logged in you will be confirmed as a contact for your client. You can then turn on two-factor authentication again.
Whenever you turn two-factor authentication off, when you turn it back on again you will be given a new Recovery Key.