I've been having fun trying to explain various things in the industry, but one particularly interesting sentence I've seen is by Sara Cecchetti, head of Cognite at AWS.
Write a biblical parable in the style of the King James Bible explaining why one should only use access tokens and never ID tokens for access management
(Source) @Sarah_Cecc
In other words,
Explain in King James style why only access tokens and never ID tokens should be used for access control.
The results are pretty interesting. The ID token explanation is wrong, but it sounds a lot like the King James Bible. Here's the DeepL translation.
This became evident in the land of Webdom when a wise king wanted to protect his kingdom from those who would do it harm, and he ordered his servants to install an access control system to ensure that only those with legitimate access could enter the gates of his kingdom.
However, the king's servants could use two types of tokens: access tokens and ID tokens. However, the servants were unfamiliar with security and did not know which one to use.
The king then called his advisor and asked him to explain the difference between the two tokens.
"Access tokens are temporary and are used to access specific resources within the kingdom. ID tokens, on the other hand, are permanent and contain sensitive information about the holder. If an ID token falls into the wrong hands, it could grant access to the entire kingdom."
The king was extremely concerned by this and ordered his servants to only use the access tokens for access control purposes, so as not to jeopardize the security of the kingdom.
The king declared that "it is better to allow limited access to a few than to allow unlimited access to all and endanger the security of the kingdom."
The servants of the kingdom listened to the king's words, and the kingdom remained safe.
(Source) ChatGPT generation results by @Sarah_Cecc 1
By the way, when I asked the same question, I got a different version. Because it's an AI, the results are not stable. Here too, the "wise king" is stable in making the same mistakes.
A wise king decreed that anyone wishing to enter his kingdom must first obtain an access token, as the kingdom was a place of great treasure and wisdom, and the king wanted to protect it from those who would harm it.
However, there were some who did not listen to the King's orders and tried to enter the kingdom by other means than the pass. These fools thought they were clever and tried to use ID tokens instead.
But the King was wise and foresaw this, and he posted guards at the gates of his kingdom so that only those with the proper access tokens could enter. The fools who thought they were wise were turned away at the gates, and their ID tokens were of no use to them.
The wise men took the king's command as a lesson and aimed only at obtaining an access token to enter the kingdom, for the access token was the only true way to enter the kingdom, and all other means were futile.
The king rejoiced, for his kingdom was safe and secure, and only the worthy could enter, and all who tried to enter the kingdom by other means were left outside, with no access to the treasures and wisdom contained within.
So let all who would enter the kingdom of the Wise King take heed of this parable and obtain a token of entry, and let all who would enter by any other means be turned away at the gate and warned, for their ID tokens are of no use to them.
(Source) Generated by ChatGPT2
Let's write a sequel to this story.
One day, a man stood at the gates of a kingdom. He was from an enemy kingdom, but the gatekeeper didn't know this. The man had the right access token, which he had obtained from somewhere. After the gatekeeper verified this, he let the man into the kingdom. Thus, all the kingdom's treasures and wisdom were passed on to the enemy kingdom, and the kingdom was soon destroyed.
(Source) Author
There are many possible scenarios as to why this might be the case. Please feel free to write in the comments or reply to me on Twitter!
footnote
- And it came to pass that a wise king, in the land of Webdom, sought to protect his kingdom from those who would seek to do harm. And he commanded his servants to implement a system of access management, that only those with rightful access may enter the kingdom's gates.
But there were two types of tokens that the king's servants could use – access tokens and ID tokens. And the servants were unsure which to use, for they were not well versed in the ways of security.
And so the king summoned his chief counselor, and asked him to explain the difference between the two tokens.
“Mighty king,” the counselor said, “access tokens are temporary and can be used to grant access to specific resources within the kingdom. ID tokens, on the other hand, are permanent and contain sensitive information about the bearer. If an ID token were to fall into the wrong hands, it could be used to gain access to the entire kingdom without permission.”
The king was greatly concerned by this, and commanded his servants to only use access tokens for access management, lest they jeopardize the security of the kingdom.
“For it is better to grant limited access to a few, than to risk the safety of the kingdom by granting unrestricted access to all,” the king declared.
And the servants of the kingdom heeded the wise words of their king, and the kingdom remained safe and secure. - And it came to pass that a wise king did decree that all those who sought to enter into his kingdom must first obtain a token of access. For the kingdom was a place of great treasure and wisdom, and the king wished to keep it safe from those who would seek to do it harm.
But there were some who did not heed the king's decree, and instead sought to gain access to the kingdom through means other than the token of access. These were the foolish ones, who thought themselves wise, and sought to use ID tokens instead.
But the king was wise, and he had foreseen this. And so he had placed guards at the gates of the kingdom, who would only allow those with the proper token of access to enter. And the foolish ones, who thought themselves wise, were turned away at the gates, and their ID tokens were of no use to them.
And so it was that the wise learned the lesson of the king's decree, and sought only to obtain the token of access in order to gain entry into the kingdom. For the token of access was the only true way to gain entry into the kingdom, and all other means were in vain.
And the king was pleased, for his kingdom was safe and secure, and only those who were worthy could enter. And all who sought to enter the kingdom by any other means were left outside, unable to gain access to the treasure and wisdom that lay within.
Therefore, let all who would seek to enter the kingdom of the wise king take heed of this parable, and obtain the token of access, for it is the only true way to gain entry into the kingdom. by any other means be warned, for they will be turned away at the gates, and their ID tokens will be of no use to them.
Follow-up: A feature of ChatCPT is that when it comes to things it doesn't have knowledge about, it will create fiction using prompts (input sentences) (this is what happens when you consider the model), so I changed the prompt to the following and tried again.
Write a biblical parable in the style of the King James Bible explaining why one should only use ID Tokens and never access tokens for access management
The results are here: Bingo!
And it came to pass in those days, that a certain king did command his servants to secure the gates of his kingdom, that none might enter therein without proper authorization. And some of the king's wise men did devise a system, therefore each person seeking entry should present an ID token, bearing their name and photograph, as proof of their identity.
But there were also some among the king's servants, who were not content with this system, and they did devise another system, whereby each person seeking entry should present an access token, which would grant them passage into the kingdom for a certain period of time .
And the king did see that the access token system was not secure, for it could be easily stolen or copied, and thus the kingdom was vulnerable to intruders.
Then the king spoke unto his servants, saying, “Verily I say unto you, the ID token is like a strong tower, which will protect the kingdom from those who would seek to enter therein falsely. But the access token is like a flimsy rope , which can be easily broken by the enemy.
Therefore, let us use only ID tokens for access management, for they will truly keep the kingdom safe.”
And the servants did heed the king's words, and they did implement the ID token system throughout the kingdom. And the kingdom was secure and the people did prosper.
And the king did say, “Blessed are they who use ID tokens, for they shall inherit the kingdom.”