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Passport for Linux On the Way

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the contain-your-enthusiasm dept.

mrsam writes "PCWorld reports that Microsoft comissioned Ready-to-Run Software, a small software vendor, to port the Passport server software to Solaris, Red Hat Linux, AIX, and HPUX. Oh, joy."

1 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Centralising security by sql*kitten · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Do we see the problem here yet?

    Not really. A PIN only works if you have the hardware token that goes with it, it's easy to see if your hardware token is missing and you can have it invalidated without needing access to it, and it's very difficult too automate cracking PINs - you can't attach a machine to an ATM and even if you could, the ATM will enforce delays so that guessing a PIN will take a long time.

    A password, on the other hand, doesn't need a hardware token (not many people use SecurID), you might not know if its been stolen until it's too late, often it cannot be invalidated without you (or someone else) accessing the same system that it formerly protected, and many systems (unlike /bin/login) don't enforce a delay between guesses.

    What was your point again?