MFA-optional banks leave safe doors (and accounts) wide open for thieves to pillage

The author recounts how thieves used reused/compromised credentials to access his 84-year-old mother's bank, retirement, and email accounts, withdraw about $30,000, and hide notifications; the column argues that optional MFA at banks and use of OTPs/SMS made the theft possible and advocates for mandatory, phishing-resistant authentication such as passkeys.