New Software Secures Data when Owners Walk Away 304
Makarand writes "Leave an operating laptop unattended on your desk and your sensitive data
is accessible to anyone who gets hold of it. To limit this risk many users
configure their systems to fall into a "sleep" mode after a period of inactivity
and ask for a password before the system can be awakened. This constant re-authentication
proves to be a headache for many users. Now a Professor and his
graduate student at at the University of Michigan have come up with a system
called
Zero-Interaction Authentication (ZIA),
described in this article in The Age,
to protect data on mobile devices.
The system works by starting to encrypt data
the moment the owner walks away from the system. The owners wear a token with
a encrypted wireless link with the laptop. If the token moves out of range the ZIA
re-encrypts all data within 5 seconds.
If the cryptographic token moves within range the system decrypts the information for the
owner.
The token, which could take many forms, is currently a wristwatch with a processor
running Linux designed by IBM."
In Sovjet Russia (Score:0, Funny)
Would that be the J R R Token (Score:4, Funny)
Vulnerable to brute force cracking (Score:5, Funny)
you call THAT secure? (Score:2, Funny)
Your security is nothing compared to that!!!!!
Re:Vulnerable to brute force cracking (Score:2, Funny)
Re:hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Interesting article/research project (Score:5, Funny)
finger print authentication. Its a lot easier to replace a stolen device than a stolen finger.
Re:Interesting article/research project (Score:2, Funny)
Token Driving anyone? (Score:1, Funny)
If it's an RF solution probably not very secure. On the other hand an IR emitting badge around the neck of the user could work.
To save my hand... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Interesting article/research project (Score:2, Funny)
Are you Eric Raymond?
Re:hmmm... (Score:2, Funny)
Four whiskeys later, and you've locked yourself out of your computer for the next 8 hours.
This would ruin pr0nsurfing as we know it....
Re:It'll be a movie plot element within 3 years. (Score:3, Funny)
I know... call it The Key
Or! Use it in the opposite direction... (Score:2, Funny)
Or tag the girlfriend and always hide the pr0n!
Re:wouldn't it make more sense (Score:5, Funny)
Re:you call THAT secure? (Score:1, Funny)
Plus... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:wouldn't it make more sense (Score:5, Funny)
I used to have great fun with people who did this at a previous job where the majority of machines were Sun/Linux. One guy constantly left his machine logged in, so I'd sneak over and drop the security on his X server (xhost +), then have great fun randomly opening apps on his machine across the room. Since he was a hardcore Windows man (he was working as a Perl programmer, and didn't have any interest in the operating system) he had no idea what was going on.
Oh yeah, I also set up a cron job to open Netscape, pointed at the famous goatcx site at lunch every day on his machine for a while...
Re:Interesting article/research project (Score:2, Funny)
Vulnerability already discovered! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Breaks an important rule (Score:1, Funny)
something you know: a password
something you are: an animal with a brain that stores passwords
Re:To save my hand... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:wouldn't it make more sense (Score:5, Funny)
Dude, you're definitely wearing your dongle in the wrong place!
Re:Use my technique (Score:4, Funny)
I think you had a typo.
What you meant to say was
"and can be LOST at the gym, in the car, at work, at home, swiming, hiking, biking, etc.
Re:Is it really so hard? (Score:2, Funny)
People usually fall for this trick exactly one-time.
Has anyone seen my pants?
Re:wouldn't it make more sense (Score:3, Funny)