A cheap but taxing porous code gate in the Eli 1.0 category of ice.
For a cheap cheap cost of 2 and at 1 influence you get a code gate that stops the runner and gives you back its rez cost to boot unless the runner either breaks it or takes a tag.
(First number is cost to break only second/ETR sub, second is to break both)
- 3/4 with Abagnale
- 3/3 with Black Orchestra
- 3 (1/2 counters) with Cerberus "Rex" H2
- / with Crowbar
- 1/2 with Cyber-Cypher
- 5/5 with Force of Nature
- 3/4 with Gordian Blade (1/2 if already charged up)
- 4/4 with GS Striker M1
- 3/4 with Houdini (1/2 if already charged up)
- 3/4 with Inversificator
- 6/6 with Leviathan
- 3/4 with Passport
- 4/6 with Peacock
- 2/3 with Refractor
- 2/4 with Sage
- 2/2 with Savant
- 9/10 with Study Guide (1/2 if already charged up)
- 1/2 with Torch
- Not breakable with Yog.0
- 4/5 with ZU.13 Key Master
Against non-special-requirements decoders other than Torch it takes at least 3 to get through the ETR and often 4 to avoid giving the corp 2. That's not bad for a piece of 2 ice.
So what about the bypass? The cost is one tag. Without things like Aaron MarrĂ³n it takes and 2 to get rid of that tag. That's still decently taxing for a 2 piece of ice. With Aaron the bypass becomes free but Aaron counters are a finite resource and especially in the early game when Authenticator is at its best they're probably not available yet.
The runner could of course float the tags but that's always risky, especially if the corp playing Authenticator is NBN. Even if you clear the tag immediately afterwards there's an element of risk due to cards like Zealous Judge.
Authenticator is clearly NBN ice. It's taxing but porous. It won't stop the runner on individual high value runs (The Maker's Eye, last-chance runs) but over the course of a game it will slow the runner down while being very affordable itself.