two factor authentication

Alon Bar-Lev alon.barlev at gmail.com
Wed Jul 26 04:01:23 EST 2006


On 7/25/06, Chris Rapier <rapier at psc.edu> wrote:
> Alon Bar-Lev wrote:
> > Chris Rapier wrote:
> >> Alon Bar-Lev wrote:
> >>
> >>> Smartcard *IS* two factor, this is why they exist. There is no
> >>> better security solution than smartcards.
> >>
> >> Of course, smartcards can be easily defeated by a sufficiently scary
> >> person holding a pair of garden shears. ;)
> >>
> >
> > Well... I am not a native English speaker... What does it mean?
> >
> > Do you actually think there is a better security mechanism than smartcards?
> However, the weakest link in any security chain is always the human. If
> you *physically* attack the human then its very easy to gain access to
> most any system. The mental I was trying to convey above is someone who
> wants access to your systems and is willing to cut off your toes and
> fingers with a pair of garden shears to get in. While some might
> consider this to be extreme I'm personally surprised its not being doing
> with some frequency.

Oh!
Thanks!
I thought I am going insane!
This is a redundant thread.... And the original poster called be
rude... Since I don't agree with him, and requested him to check his
requirements with the originate author of the document he introduced.

I am totally agree with you.
But the human factor is allways there... So I can cancel out it from
the equation.
Then we left with smartcard as the leading solution, in term of
price/usability/security.

The one neat feature I've seen in SecureID was the ability for the
user to enter an "alert pin" in place of his regular pin so that the
system grant the user access, but alert the administrator that the
user was forced to do the action...

Thank you for keeping me sane,
Alon Bar-Lev.



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