Access code

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An access code is a sequence of characters that allows access to a system, place or service.^[1]

The characters in the code may be letters (uppercase and/or lowercase) and/or numbers (digits) and/or special characters (for example !,#,$,%, etc. and non-ASCII characters), depending on the needs and capabilities of the particular system.^{[citation needed]}

Some access codes are secure or secret, and are intended to be known and used by only authorised persons. Other access codes are public, for example telephone international access codes.^{[citation needed]}

Some systems require a valid combination of both public and secure access codes, for example internet sites which require both a username (which may be public) and a secure password to log in.^{[citation needed]}

Secure access codes

Secure access codes can be used to prevent unauthorized access to tools, information or resources. Access codes are often used in security systems to restrict entry to only authorised persons.^[1]

Some secure access codes are referred to as passwords. The term access code is a generic term, and the term password is a particular example or type of access code. See password article for more details.^{[citation needed]}

The following is a list of examples of why we need secure access codes:

Commercial organizations

Access codes are often used in commercial organizations to keep project details confidential. This allows the organization to be competitive amongst other organizations.^[2]

Some organizations use subversion. They usually set control access such that they can prevent unauthorized users/organizations from accessing their project's details.^{[citation needed]}

Banking

Access codes are given to bank customers. The bank customers can use their access codes to gain access to their banking information. They can also use the access code to gain privileges to withdraw, deposit, and transfer their assets. This can prevent unauthorized usage of a banking card to gain either personal information or assets. ^[2]

Public access codes

Public access codes are sometimes needed to prevent accidental use of possibly expensive systems. An example is the need to dial an international access code to make an international telephone call.^{[citation needed]}

The following are examples of public access codes:

International access codes

To dial the telephone number of a subscriber in another country, the international access code must be dialled first, then the country code, then (usually) the area code, then the subscriber's number (in some cases the area code is a mandatory part of the subscriber's number).^{[citation needed]}

The international access code is different in many countries, for example to make an international call from within the UK it is 00, but from within North America it is 011. Because of this variability, many systems (especially mobile phones) and printed documents now use the "+" symbol as a prefix instead of showing a country-specific international access code, so the number can be used anywhere in the world (as long as the country code and any area code is included), with the telephone system automatically converting the + to the correct international access code.^{[citation needed]}

National access codes

National access codes are sometimes referred to as "trunk" codes.^{[citation needed]}

To dial a telephone number in another part of the same country a national access code must be dialled first, then (usually) the area code, then the subscriber's number (in some cases the area code is a mandatory part of the subscriber's number). The national access code is different in many countries, for example to make a call from within Canada to a telephone which is distant but also within Canada, the national access code is 1, but to make a similar call between two distant locations within New Zealand the national access code is 0.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Access Control
• Area code
• Commit (data management)
• List of international call prefixes
• Login
• Password

References

1. ^ ^{a b} PC Magazine
2. ^ ^{a b} "Access code utilisation Need for access codes". 2007-02-25. http://www.articleworld.org/index.php/Access_code Access code utilisation. Retrieved 2009-02-20. 

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