Today, as a new employee at my new job, I got an RSA SecurID token in the mail, and it felt like a wonderful trinket of nostalgia. Before I could even get back to my desk, I ripped the package open to examine my new and improved key fob.
I pulled out the documentation, examining it carefully for any signs of familiarity. But my company customized the Getting Started -- there were no instructions for checking my package -- so I knew it didn't come from my doc friends at RSA, a division of EMC.
I went to the URL provided in the doc, which was a location on our intranet. Immediately the RSA SecurID tour kicked off, and I envisioned Debbie smiling like Vanna White when that new tour was unveiled in Flash several years ago. I decided to skip the tour, because I knew more already than any person should about two-factor authentication. For me, it's three-factor: something I have, something I know, and something I know all too well.
I went back to the intranet to find the registration site, knowing I'd need to enter that elusive serial number and choose my PIN. I caressed the light grey fob between my fingers as Web Express loaded on the page before me. WEB EXPRESS!! And all its signs of Gideon with those little red angle bracket buttons that resemble the company's logo. I still have some of those business cards...
Ah, Web Express. It brings me back to the days of long meetings in dark rooms with giant bags of Skittles...and Shane. I'll never forget it...
Barb and I were munching on a giant bag of Skittles to stay awake in the marathon Web Express teleconference. When the Skittles were gone, Shane passed a dollar across the table at me. "Thanks," I told him as I passed the bill back, "but you don't owe me anything!"
"No," he said, returning the bill to me. "Go get me more."
I said lots of colorful things about him after that day.
But back to the point! The point of exciting burst of nostaliga! So many fond memories brought back by my brush with destiny! Look how the word "passcode" is no longer in all caps! And how ACE/Server has non-breaking spaces around the slash! I remember how those third party licenses used to cause such stress...or maybe that was the Marketing department. Who cares!
In the end, I intend to be planful and flog my fob to my best of my ability. I'll put it on my keychain and hope that they re-engineered the static flaw, and that I don't have to "reenter" my PIN (please, no hyphens) when using the Query Tool.
I miss you, RSA. And by "you," I mean the cafeteria grill cook who made my grilled cheese without butter. And Shane.
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