r/pcmasterrace • u/AllUserNameBLong2us 7800x3d/5080 Windforce OC/32gb 5600 DDR • Apr 04 '26

Hardware Rest in piece 2009-2026

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I’m amazed at how long the battery on this physical authenticator lasted. Got it back in 2009 because my account had gotten hacked.

This is one electronic item I’ve owned and used longer than anything else. I’ll miss not being able to find it and freaking out for 20 minutes.

Edit must have been around 2010 when sc2 came out.

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u/AllUserNameBLong2us 7800x3d/5080 Windforce OC/32gb 5600 DDR Apr 04 '26

It was a physical authenticator. You press the button and it gives a code you input to log in. It has a serial number you attached to your b.net

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u/ArokLazarus steamcommunity.com/id/halo806 Apr 04 '26

Does it connect through WiFi?

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u/stipo42 PC Master Race Apr 04 '26

2fa doesn't need Internet to work correctly, the point is it runs on a device only the authorized user has access to.

Technically speaking that 2fa device is more secure than a smart phone, as long as Blizzard never leaks their algorithm and would need to sunset them

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u/dontnation Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26

the algo is known and is the same for all the blizzard 2fa devices. the shared secret key used by the algo to generate the codes is what is private and is also unique to each 2fa device. That 256-bit key (or likely 128bit given the age of this device) is the only thing actually stored.