# Secure ID is st00pid **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 19, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876 "2008-05-19T18:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/1 "2008-05-19T18:48:15Z")
Company gives me this little number-changy keycode thingy. You have to type it in to get access to the network. I’ve had them before. LCD numbers, 0-9. Easy. Hey look, this time there are alpha characters. Certainly they’ll have been smart enough to stick with hexadecimal to limit confusion. Oh look, there’s an L. Lovely. Hmmm… with the squarish LCD numbers, that leaves a lot of room for ambiguity. Certainly they’ll have been smart enough to omit the numbers that are similar to letters. Oh look. There’s a G, O, and E. Excellent. Oh well, I might lock myself out of the access point, but on the bright side I may one day get a password that spells “BOOGERZ” ---
**Author:** ![Stringer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Stringer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringer)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/2 "2008-05-19T22:36:20Z")
That’s pretty dumb, mine is hex so there’s no confusion. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/3 "2008-05-20T00:12:10Z")
How do they draw a G? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/4 "2008-05-20T00:15:41Z")
I have one but it only has numbers. It makes me feel like a spy or an alien. Every minute, I get beamed a new code that no one can crack. It has to be kept with me at all times because something…something…something civilization will end. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/5 "2008-05-20T00:52:27Z")
[QUOTE=ultrafilter] How do they draw a G? [/QUOTE] Like this: 6 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/6 "2008-05-20T01:20:17Z")
[QUOTE=Cosmic Relief] Like this: 6 [/QUOTE] I’m not sure whether I’d be laughing more or less if I thought you were joking. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/7 "2008-05-20T01:27:14Z")
The one I have for the nuclear football only does numbers. At least I like to say it’s for the nuclear football; saying it’s for accessing register systems is just dull. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/8 "2008-05-20T01:31:08Z")
[QUOTE=ultrafilter] I’m not sure whether I’d be laughing more or less if I thought you were joking. [/QUOTE] Honestly, I’m not sure. All I know is I’ve seen most of the letters from A-Z. So when 6 or 0 come up, I can’t be sure it isn’t asking for G or O. I guess I could always track down the dingdongs who manufactured it and ask them whether they were too stoned to write down which set of numbers and characters they used when they designed this piece of crap. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/9 "2008-05-20T02:44:54Z")
Mine is basically a Christmas ornament at this point, since try as I might, I can’t access my company’s network. I feel sort of important having it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/10 "2008-05-20T04:00:03Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] I have one but it only has numbers. It makes me feel like a spy or an alien. Every minute, I get beamed a new code that no one can crack. It has to be kept with me at all times because something…something…something civilization will end. [/QUOTE] For the record, there is no “beaming” of new codes into your widget, there’s a number generating algorithm inside of it, and an identical one sitting on a server somewhere. Much cheaper that way. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/11 "2008-05-20T11:16:01Z")
No RSA SecurID tokens use letters, you’re either holding it upside down or have one from a different vendor. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/12 "2008-05-20T11:32:36Z")
Hm, on closer inspection it’s “safeword secure computing”. From a distance it looks just like a SecureID. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/13 "2008-05-20T13:39:08Z")
[QUOTE=Punoqllads] For the record, there is no “beaming” of new codes into your widget, there’s a number generating algorithm inside of it, and an identical one sitting on a server somewhere. Much cheaper that way. [/QUOTE] You may be technically correct but I choose not to think of it that way. In my mind, there is a team monitoring me from a mountain bunker at all times. Every minute, there is a risk assessment and then a countdown. Five..four..three..two..one - BEAM CODE! It works well that way. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secure-id-is-st00pid/449876/14 "2008-05-20T18:59:54Z")
Oh dear Og… People still use SafeWord? One of the big selling points we had for going to SecurID enterprise-wide was that it only used digits 0-9, so there’s no confusion about letters. That and the problems people brought on themselves by idly pressing the button again and again in meetings and getting the token out of synch with the system.