title: Generating an API Secret
body: <p>I have created an API that I only want certain clients having access to. After a bit of research, I found that API Keys and API Secrets are pretty good way of controlling that.</p>
  
  <p>I want to basically generate my own secrets using information I control. For example, if I create the secret <code>1500315177265-8005550000-System</code>, the secret itself has information I can reference and validate. From what I understand, it doesn't matter what the secret is, as long as its not shared, and that's what makes it a secret. I can append some long salt values to make it much harder to guess. <strong>Can I use secrets securely this way?</strong></p>
  
  <p>Along the same lines, I am thinking what the need for the API Key is needed if the secret itself has identifying information. More than likely, I'm missing something here or more APIs would do it this way.</p>