Beta Release: ExchangeDefender SMS Relay

More and more, we’re prompted for our cell phone number – not for marketing, but for functional purposes. Web sites are using your cell number to text you a verification code, password reminders can’t even start without texting you – even the local restaurant will text you when your table is available. Everyone has a cell phone on them all the time and it’s the most convenient way to reach you.

The convenience stops abruptly when cell phones are used in a corporate or collaborative environment.

“Whose number ends in -2910?

I’m waiting for the OTP from Intuit!

Which phone are we using for 2FA for XYZ Inc?”

Over the years we’ve used various apps, services, even burner phones for 2FA/OTP purposes. When we got sent home by Covid-19, everyone felt the immediate sting of signing into services from a new computer. Managing apps, forwarding services and automation scripts that were at times delayed or hit and miss was just not tolerable.

At the same time, we were integrating our wildly successful Email Encryption with TXT (for secure message delivery) and this seemed like a natural extension. Pretty soon we were SMS-enabling everything in our organization and finally having a layer of reporting and management that is critical.

How to enroll?

Just go to our portal at https://support.ExchangeDefender.com and click on SMS Proxy.

At launch, we’re making it available with local numbers in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia. Once you pick your number you can add team members to it and you’re done. Every message sent to that number will be copied to other members of your team. It’s like a distribution group, but with cell phones – and you can have up to 5 people assigned to each number. Numbers are just $5 / month and include 100 inbound messages.

We’ve already got it working with a ton of different services (email, Slack, Teams) and we look forward to launching next and exciting services in 2021.

Beta Release: ExchangeDefender SMS Relay