Pardon me, while a vent for a moment...
To be blunt, I am sick and tired of the world of "Two-Factor Authentication" (2FA) that increasingly seems to be a requirement of almost every web app and service we use, these days.
A Greater Issue...?
Truthfully, though, I suppose what I am really sick and tired of, is a world that makes it necessary... even essential, to add all these layers of obfuscation.
WTF, over?
Maybe my perspective is a bit narrow here, but I swear it feels like "swindling your way to something" is becoming more common than actually working your way to something.
And if you're actually one of the evidently dumbf*cks who's actually trying to work to get ahead, you'd better be armed and protected to the gills because some hacker-swindler-twat is waiting in the shadows to appropriate what you've worked for.
May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your underwear!
Actually, better yet, may a giant EMP roast all your technology to the point where your only option in life is to spend all eternity flipping burgers at McDonalds!
No, I'm not a "nice person."
I suppose the actual problem is that (evidently) there's no standardized encryption technology that's good/strong enough keep life any simpler and more secure for the vast majority of users.
We are just expected to be "content" with the fact that navigating life gets ever more complicated — and hence more time consuming — every day... and that's supposed to make us feel "happy and secure."
But part of this picture has never really made much sense to me.
Seems like like the entire issue is really more about "idiot proofing" online security than it is about "strengthening" it.
After all, even the most powerful CPUs/GPUs would take billions of years to brute force hack their way through something like our Hive keys.
There's Always a Better Idiot!
But it's also an old truism that the more you idiot proof something, the more powerful the idiots become.
So even if the intent behind 2FA is a reasonable enough notion that "we do all the thinking FOR you," it seems likely that people will follow the natural trajectory of applying less and less common sense to their own actions... and assuming that no matter how careless (and gullible!) their actions might be, "someone" is protecting them from themselves.
Really? I mean, REALLY?
Meanwhile, my frustration with 2FA just escalated with eBay... not because they asked, but because they insist on their methodology being to send me an old-fashioned SMS text with a code. So now I have to get up and go find my phone, and hopefully make it back to my desk before that code expires.
"What? You don't have your phone ON you, at all times?"
Hells, no, I don't! Nobody needs to be able to invade my personal space, 24/7. It's usually plugged in somewhere, so it's charged when I need to go to town, or photograph something.
But that's a sidetrack.
My beef here is that of all the venues I deal with that insist on using 2FA, there are probably a dozen different that's being implemented: text, email, special links, authenticator apps... so I'm not just keep track of passwords, but also the methods to authenticate them.
How the frak is that simpler and better?"
Allright... time for me to "get over myself," and get back to work.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your weekend!
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Created at 2023-03-04 14:06 PST
0760/2015