I have one of those time-based number hardware fobs, with the 6-digit 7-segment LCD display, which I'd guess I'd actuated less than 100 times, yet on one such actuation, it displayed 1-2-3-4-5-6.<p>Maybe because the whole mode when using it is infosec, my snap first thought was about how this is highly unlikely and is someone messing with me.<p>My next thought was to run to get a camera from the other room, regardless of whatever is going on.<p>By the time I got back with a camera, and just barely missed photographing the display, I realized that someone compromising my airgapped self-contained hardware fob was even more unlikely than this number sequence coming up randomly within 100 actuations.<p>And, like this article points out, there are many "unlikely" numbers that might come up, so the chance of any of them is not as unlikely as it would first seem until you thought about it.
Cute, but ultimately cute features are not compatible with a critical security application.<p>If it had been developed as a feature of an existing application maybe it would fly (and probably even not there). But as a third party app, or even a third party library that needs to be added to the security supply chain? Not a chance for any serious business.
Dubs and I upvote.<p>>Like all recovered edgelords who came of age in the early 2010s, I somewhat miss the heyday of image-boards like 4chan. They were the final bastion of the wild-west early internet before the nazis ruined everything.<p>Extremely true. I don't know anywhere like those times these days. Where do the young people/trolls hang out and push to the edge of acceptance these days? Or is the culture of "getting right to the edge of getting banned but not crossing the line for lulz" and "act in a way nobody knows whether you're actually trolling or not" dead?
That’s a fun little Easter egg! It’s always cool to see small details like this that add some personality to otherwise routine tasks. Makes me wonder what other quirky things could be hidden in security tools without compromising functionality.
Complete tangent: "voila" is French for "here it is", but "viola" is French for "raped". Careful using foreign words if you're not sure you can spell them.
> I knew I was onto something: 90% of the people I explained this to thought I was a moron. The other 10% saw only sheer brilliance.<p>This is the water witching stick of divine knowledge.
I think this is a bad idea and insecure. Obtaining a code needs to be an intentional effort and not just available to someone who happens to be screen surfing my phone at the right time. It's worse that it's on the lock screen as it seems the author does based on their screenshots. Lose your phone, and your passcode will not protect someone from using your codes.