> but 2FA was both possible and a consideration 18 years ago

You could setup your own dns servers obviously 18 years ago and in fact when starting out in the mid 90's that is exactly what we and many others did. (Criket Liu nutshell books from O'Reilly)

http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781565920101.do

http://www.oreilly.com/pub/au/284