The Key to (PayPal) Security
Exactly nine days after I ordered it, I’m pleased to say that I received my PayPal Security Key today. I was about to take a picture of it, then I realized it looks exactly like the picture of it…
Go figure.
I hadn’t realized that this can be used for both my PayPal and eBay accounts. Makes sense, I reckon. I’ve activated it for both, it took probably 3 minutes to get that done, and a chunk of that was waiting 30 seconds for a new PIN for both registrations.
I’m no longer nearly so nervous about my accounts for those two services.
It would be sweet if this could be used for other services as well. However, my understanding of the technology is that there needs to be a server at the host end for the RSA stuff (I’m assuming this is RSA SecurID) so that probably wouldn’t work so well with a bunch of 3rd parties.
Perhaps that notion would work better in the OpenID world? The OpenID provider has the server and uses it to authenticate you just once, saving the need for everyone to have their own server.
Granted, that makes being an OpenID provider a lot more expensive. Hmm… I’m sure smarter brains than I are working on this!
Go order your key if you’re a PayPal or eBay user. $5 ain’t much for the second factor of authentication and peace of mind.
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11 Responses to “The Key to (PayPal) Security”
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I’ve always found the paypal security pins like this in a hardware style to be quite interesting and possibly the only true way to secure online sites, especially monetary ones like paypal.
I very much agree with Chris. Hardware is so much better and securing monetary sites is something everyone has woes about.
You can actually use your PayPal security key at the VeriSign Labs OpenID Provider as well. http://pip.verisignlabs.com
Hey David, thanks for that tip! I hope to check that out soon.
I have never heard of this Paypal key. Must be new. I’ll have to look into this.
This is the first time hearing about this. I’m always a little bit worried when it come to online money so this seem like something I’ll have to check out.
Well, the day I heard about it, I thought of applying for it..but alas, can’t do it as it is not available in this part of the world
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Cheers Chris,
My Paypal Key was on it’s way to my house about 5 seconds after I read this post.
[...] I was pondering the notion of using this fancy PayPal Security key in the OpenID world. David left a great comment pointing that this can already be done with VeriSign [...]
I wish to have one too, but shipping to Czech republic will be maybe too high.
I’m in Australia, just finished listening to Security Now and have one on the way.