Bank security tokens
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My mother recently opened a Capitec Bank account (www.capitec.co.za[^]) and they issued her with a security token which displays a 6-digit one-time password every time she presses a button. She says the number is only displayed for about 10 seconds, so I got her to do an experiment - press button, note the number, as soon as the display blanks press button again and note the number, as soon as the display blanks press button again and note the number. All 3 OTPs were different, so I assume this is an event-based system. So far so good. The funny thing is that the instructions tell you to hold the device in your left hand and "quite close to the PC" when you press the button. My mother reports that her friend Kathy (an ex-Applied Maths lecturer like my mother, not given to superstition) had her Capitec Bank token some distance from her PC and pressed the button, and the display gave some alpha-numeric code rather than the numeric OTP. Bringing the token into the specified position relative to the PC and pressing the button gave a normal numeric OTP. My mother repeated the experiment while I was on the phone with her, and got a similar alphanumeric code. So what's going on? My mother has one of my old PCs, with no WiFi, no Bluetooth, no nothing! She collected the token from a bank branch, there's no special hardware installed on the PC. Are both these little old ladies having fantasies?
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My mother recently opened a Capitec Bank account (www.capitec.co.za[^]) and they issued her with a security token which displays a 6-digit one-time password every time she presses a button. She says the number is only displayed for about 10 seconds, so I got her to do an experiment - press button, note the number, as soon as the display blanks press button again and note the number, as soon as the display blanks press button again and note the number. All 3 OTPs were different, so I assume this is an event-based system. So far so good. The funny thing is that the instructions tell you to hold the device in your left hand and "quite close to the PC" when you press the button. My mother reports that her friend Kathy (an ex-Applied Maths lecturer like my mother, not given to superstition) had her Capitec Bank token some distance from her PC and pressed the button, and the display gave some alpha-numeric code rather than the numeric OTP. Bringing the token into the specified position relative to the PC and pressing the button gave a normal numeric OTP. My mother repeated the experiment while I was on the phone with her, and got a similar alphanumeric code. So what's going on? My mother has one of my old PCs, with no WiFi, no Bluetooth, no nothing! She collected the token from a bank branch, there's no special hardware installed on the PC. Are both these little old ladies having fantasies?
But does her router have WiFi?
Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together. Manfred R. Bihy: "Looks as if OP is learning resistant."
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But does her router have WiFi?
Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together. Manfred R. Bihy: "Looks as if OP is learning resistant."
Very Short Distance Wifi? :confused:
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum
Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.
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Very Short Distance Wifi? :confused:
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum
Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.
It's a better bet than Psychic Powers! Not a lot better, I'll admit, but a bit... :laugh:
Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together. Manfred R. Bihy: "Looks as if OP is learning resistant."
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My mother recently opened a Capitec Bank account (www.capitec.co.za[^]) and they issued her with a security token which displays a 6-digit one-time password every time she presses a button. She says the number is only displayed for about 10 seconds, so I got her to do an experiment - press button, note the number, as soon as the display blanks press button again and note the number, as soon as the display blanks press button again and note the number. All 3 OTPs were different, so I assume this is an event-based system. So far so good. The funny thing is that the instructions tell you to hold the device in your left hand and "quite close to the PC" when you press the button. My mother reports that her friend Kathy (an ex-Applied Maths lecturer like my mother, not given to superstition) had her Capitec Bank token some distance from her PC and pressed the button, and the display gave some alpha-numeric code rather than the numeric OTP. Bringing the token into the specified position relative to the PC and pressing the button gave a normal numeric OTP. My mother repeated the experiment while I was on the phone with her, and got a similar alphanumeric code. So what's going on? My mother has one of my old PCs, with no WiFi, no Bluetooth, no nothing! She collected the token from a bank branch, there's no special hardware installed on the PC. Are both these little old ladies having fantasies?
Perhaps it is a security feature, so that if you are far enough from the PC (ping response time/signal strength) that someone else could also read it, it gives a 'phoney' passcode.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.
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My mother recently opened a Capitec Bank account (www.capitec.co.za[^]) and they issued her with a security token which displays a 6-digit one-time password every time she presses a button. She says the number is only displayed for about 10 seconds, so I got her to do an experiment - press button, note the number, as soon as the display blanks press button again and note the number, as soon as the display blanks press button again and note the number. All 3 OTPs were different, so I assume this is an event-based system. So far so good. The funny thing is that the instructions tell you to hold the device in your left hand and "quite close to the PC" when you press the button. My mother reports that her friend Kathy (an ex-Applied Maths lecturer like my mother, not given to superstition) had her Capitec Bank token some distance from her PC and pressed the button, and the display gave some alpha-numeric code rather than the numeric OTP. Bringing the token into the specified position relative to the PC and pressing the button gave a normal numeric OTP. My mother repeated the experiment while I was on the phone with her, and got a similar alphanumeric code. So what's going on? My mother has one of my old PCs, with no WiFi, no Bluetooth, no nothing! She collected the token from a bank branch, there's no special hardware installed on the PC. Are both these little old ladies having fantasies?
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But does her router have WiFi?
Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together. Manfred R. Bihy: "Looks as if OP is learning resistant."
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Perhaps it is a security feature, so that if you are far enough from the PC (ping response time/signal strength) that someone else could also read it, it gives a 'phoney' passcode.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.
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My mother recently opened a Capitec Bank account (www.capitec.co.za[^]) and they issued her with a security token which displays a 6-digit one-time password every time she presses a button. She says the number is only displayed for about 10 seconds, so I got her to do an experiment - press button, note the number, as soon as the display blanks press button again and note the number, as soon as the display blanks press button again and note the number. All 3 OTPs were different, so I assume this is an event-based system. So far so good. The funny thing is that the instructions tell you to hold the device in your left hand and "quite close to the PC" when you press the button. My mother reports that her friend Kathy (an ex-Applied Maths lecturer like my mother, not given to superstition) had her Capitec Bank token some distance from her PC and pressed the button, and the display gave some alpha-numeric code rather than the numeric OTP. Bringing the token into the specified position relative to the PC and pressing the button gave a normal numeric OTP. My mother repeated the experiment while I was on the phone with her, and got a similar alphanumeric code. So what's going on? My mother has one of my old PCs, with no WiFi, no Bluetooth, no nothing! She collected the token from a bank branch, there's no special hardware installed on the PC. Are both these little old ladies having fantasies?
That is really weird. The numbers are continuously generated and pressing the button just enables the display, but I have no idea how it would have to be next to a PC for it to work. These are SSDs though, right? No offence to these ladies' capabilities, but maybe they just confused 1 for I or 8 for B? :)
Cheers, विक्रम (CCC count - 6.) "We have already been through this, I am not going to repeat myself." - fat_boy, in a global warming thread :doh:
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:thumbsup:
Craigslist Troll: litaly@comcast.net "I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours. " — Hunter S. Thompson
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That is really weird. The numbers are continuously generated and pressing the button just enables the display, but I have no idea how it would have to be next to a PC for it to work. These are SSDs though, right? No offence to these ladies' capabilities, but maybe they just confused 1 for I or 8 for B? :)
Cheers, विक्रम (CCC count - 6.) "We have already been through this, I am not going to repeat myself." - fat_boy, in a global warming thread :doh:
?? SSD - Wikipedia suggests http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSD_(disambiguation)[^] Or is SSD = Silly Senior Dames? I wondered about suggesting to my mother that she should hold the device the right way up, but since she taught me how to do "hello" on her HP-45 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hp-45[^] in mid 1970s, that would have been disrespectful. I was wondering whether it picks up RF from the computer, to avoid skipping too many codes when the button gets pressed in your pocket. But why go to that complication / added expense when other token manufacturers don't find it necessary? I guess I'll have to experiment with her token next time I'm in Cape Town.
