Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility

When users connect with RSA SecurID tokens, they are most often prompted for a PASSCODE. Sometimes, they are instead prompted for a PIN (typically only on initial setup) and other times they might be prompted to wait for the tokencode to change and enter the new tokencode. What do these terms mean?

The tokencode is the 6-digit number generated by the RSA token.

The PIN is a (4) to (8)-digit number selected by the user when they initially set up their RSA token.

The PASSCODE is simply the user’s PIN followed by the current tokencode.

These are relatively straightforward; however, there can be some confusion on initial setup. The first time a user connects with a new fob (or, if for some reason the user requested that we clear the PIN associated with their fob) they are prompted for a PASSCODE but in reality only enter a tokencode. This is because during this initial setup procedure a PIN does not exist. Since there is no PIN, the PASSCODE is the same as the tokencode in this rare case.