My coworker came back from a meeting the other day with a strange device in hand and a bewildered look upon her face. She shows me the little device pictured below and says, "just try to guess what this is." I said, "uh, a mini-remote control for your t.v?" She says, "no. Apparently in Italy you need a remote in order to access confidential bank information online." What?! I just shook my head, laughed, and said "Oh, Italy." Yes, folks, I'm not kidding. In order to access the bank account, the user must type in a username and password. Then, in order to enter the website, you press the button on the remote (called an "O-Key") which causes yet another code to appear that you have to enter on the website.
What's funny is that I can't decide what to think. My first reaction is that the O-Key is archaic, third-world, and old-fashioned because usually that's the case. (I once went to a bank to cash a check and the teller actually flipped through an old leather bound album to find the customer who had written me the check and called her on her cell phone). But is this O-Key innovative, paranoid, and *gasp* even advanced? I frankly don't know what to think and am going to leave this one to the computer nerds out there to decide.
What's funny is that I can't decide what to think. My first reaction is that the O-Key is archaic, third-world, and old-fashioned because usually that's the case. (I once went to a bank to cash a check and the teller actually flipped through an old leather bound album to find the customer who had written me the check and called her on her cell phone). But is this O-Key innovative, paranoid, and *gasp* even advanced? I frankly don't know what to think and am going to leave this one to the computer nerds out there to decide.
1 comment:
Cool! O-Key is definitely more secure than our silly little PINs that we use here in the states. This way, even if someone steals your card and knows your PIN, they'll also need to have stolen your keys (highly unlikely).
A lot of offices use a similar device for logging into their networks from outside the office. The code is always changing so it doesn't help a thief to memorize it.
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