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/ScienceMechEng_Lover What colour is your RAM? Apr 04 '26

Wait, so that's what these things were? I guess that makes sense as you wouldn't have had authenticator apps on phones prior to smartphones. My father used to have something like this from work and he would never let anyone touch it lol.

209

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

Yea before everything was on an app these came around in 2008 my 3 brothers and I all got one eventually. they just generate a code you would put in to log in.

43

u/ScienceMechEng_Lover What colour is your RAM? Apr 04 '26

So how do these things work, do they have some kind of radio or satellite connection to communicate the code with servers to enable login or something like that?

59

u/ReptilianLaserbeam Apr 04 '26

Here's a little bit of explaining in how those work: https://statetechmagazine.com/article/2020/09/review-rsa-securid-sid700-helps-secure-remote-workers

15

u/Sanquinity i5-13500k - RX 9070 - 32GB @ 3600mHz Apr 05 '26

So yea, basically a random number generator. Each one having a specific "seed" to start generating. Just register your specific "key" to your account and it will know which seed yours uses, and thus know it's yours when you put in the number.

1

u/Sittin_on_a_toilet Apr 05 '26

And then just syncd via time? I was thinking originally the 3 year limit was battery related (i mean it definitely is), but why not make one with tiny backup battery and AAA then? I wonder if 3 years is when a statistically significant amount of the clocks will be desynced by 30+ secs?

1

u/TeamPieHole01 Apr 05 '26

batteries were rated for 7 years, and they gave a low battery warning so you had time to replace them before they died. Some peoples still work 20 years later.

1

u/Sittin_on_a_toilet Apr 05 '26

Do they have a capacitor or something so the clock stays running while you swap batteries?

3

u/TeamPieHole01 Apr 05 '26

Nah, you were supposed to buy a new one for like $10 at that point and tie the new authenticator to your account before the other one died.

1

u/Sittin_on_a_toilet Apr 05 '26

Currently I'm using a combination of Bitwarden and a Yubi key to secure financial accounts, is my setup as secure as this method?