By Bob Deakin
For security purposes, please enter the one-time verification code to confirm your identity. It’s a time and effort thing for me.
Two-Factor Authentication is important because the world is full of brilliant hackers who want everything from my credit card number to the brand of dental floss I use to my favorite Steely Dan song.
I’ll save you some time, hackers, it’s "Aja," but hack me again tomorrow and it might be "Kid Charlemagne." Okay, now take that info and run with it.
I don’t take cybercrime for granted. I write for a living and it’s part of the job, at home and work. I’ve seen what happens when you get hacked as an individual or a business. We change our passwords almost daily at work, and I do it almost as much at home.
A Time and Effort Thing
As I stated, I spend the majority of my days on my computer, and the ebb and flow of creativity cannot be controlled. Nor can the amount of time I have left in this world. That said, the last thing I need as I’m about to log into my site, or write the greatest line ever written, is to stop and prove who I am.
I have to resort to memory, a note somewhere, or a piece of software that can prove who I am for me. I just lost five minutes explaining that. I’ll never get those five minutes back, and the world may have just lost the greatest line ever written.
How do you feel now, cybercriminals and security experts?
My Vibe Is Blown
I just lost the awesome vibe I had going. Just so I could recapture the password to Discogs to find out who played percussion on "Sailing" by Christopher Cross. I don’t have the LP anymore, so now I may never know.
Can someone out there tell me who it is?
It turns out it was Victor Feldman, and I should have known that off the top of my head. Thanks to Wikipedia, I found it without a password. Speaking of whom, Wiki is nice enough to just ask me for my money every time I go to their site. They don’t try to steal it.
If everyone were like Wikipedia, the world would be a better place, and we’d know how many countries there currently are and the square milage of each.
Just Send Me The Text
You have my cell number already, Mr. website, so I feel good that we are friends or at least acquaintances. Just send me the text, even after I spent five minutes trying to track down my password.
Where’s my phone? Man-oh-man. It’s in my car, which is a good five-minute walk from here. I need a walk now anyway since my mood is blown.
Thank you, cybercriminals and the security experts who protect me. But you all just lost the greatest sentence ever written.