CNN.com - Technology - New notebooks offer biometric protection - February 2, 2001

[Phillip H. Zakas]

yes, and even if you're using a c2-compliant operating system, this type of
technology is not (as the article points out) for sensitive information.
It's great for thwarting those who go around bypassing screen saver
passwords, etc. but there really isn't a high enough confidence to store the
The Nation's Secrets.

The Nation's Secrets are reserved for off-the-shelf toshiba laptops with
removable hard drives, easily lost behind standard-issue-one-each office
copiers and subject to the tragedy of spilled coca colas and jelly donuts.
Only crack state department, CIA and department of energy personnel are even
allowed to use such equipment and the little red diskettes marked 'secret'
that go along with them.  Oh and of course only if they access AOL through
the laptops so their kids can complete their dinosaur homework assignments
("Gee dad, what's 'intel briefing 2-1-98.doc'?")

the rest of us are left to complicated systems of hardware/software
passwords, PGP and the all-powerful stress of knowing that a lost laptop
means lost bucks $$ and lost e-mail/work/writings, forcing us to pay
attention to our stuff and be careful about what we install/use on our
laptops.

phillip



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-cypherpunks at Algebra.COM
[mailto:owner-cypherpunks at Algebra.COM]On Behalf Of Jim Choate
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 3:43 PM
To: cypherpunks at einstein.ssz.com
Subject: Re: CNN.com - Technology - New notebooks offer biometric
protection - February 2, 2001




Hi,

If all you use the biometrics for is authentication then yes, physical
control of the machine will allow a bypass of the technology. However, if
you use it also for the key to the file system then it becomes much more
secure. As I understand it there is no file system level protection
offered through this technology at this time.

It is a start howerver...

On Mon, 5 Feb 2001, POF wrote:

> Thanks for the article, but i have some questions/comments that perhaps
> require some clearing up.... even if it were in perfect working order,
this
> technology sounds to me like another coup for crypto... what i mean is,
> simply, bits are bits, and the data on the drive could be read in a part
by
> part basis (perhaps i don't have the vocabulary for this, but the idea is
> here).... sorta like "ta hell with the security, if i just take the drive,
> or the platter even i can just read it raw and then all i have to contend
> with is the encryption"
>
> well, sorry for my ignorance... perhaps you could clear it up if needed :)

> At 07:11 AM 2/5/01 -0600, you wrote:
> >
>
>http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/computing/02/02/biometric.security.idg/index.h
> tml

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