this post was submitted on 08 May 2026
51 points (96.4% liked)
Mildly Interesting
27588 readers
530 users here now
This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.
This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?
Just post some stuff and don't spam.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
A number of banks here used to use a system like this a couple of decades ago. You'd get a card reader-calculator thing like in the pictures and there was a similar challenge-response flow. I've got no idea if they are even supported any more; I've definitely not seen one in a long time.
I remember "I'll transfer you back when I can get my reader at home" and similar was not uncommon to hear
I think most of the uk banks still support them, though they don't send you one by default anymore (you have to request one, which is fair enough as most people don't need them). Also they all seem interchangeable, I used an old one from a different back to authorise a large payment recently.
Most Swedish banks have some kind of hardware MFA available but most are standalone one time code generators, only one bank here that I know of use actual battery powered card readers for OTP. Some have card readers with USB connection.
In Belgium, can confirm they are still widely used. These and eid readers are being replaced by an ID verified app, but I'd say every major bank still has the challenge auth available.