Posted by Doug
Fri, 11 Feb 2005 14:49:00 GMT
Bruce Schneier has another good article on
The Curse of the Secret Question. He basically argues that sites using a backup “secret question” are eliminating the value of good passwords. Attackers can work on the probably public and more easily guess-able secret question. He boils it down (as he usually does) to the security trade-off: easier customer service versus strong security. OK, I can see this is a problem. What bothers me is the conclusion he draws:
Passwords have reached the end of their useful life. Today, they only
work for low-security applications. The secret question is just one
manifestation of that fact.
If passwords are dead, what’s the alternative? Biometrics? I understand that managing passwords is
hard. I use Mac
OS X’s keychain system to manage all of mine. I like that my browser can remember it all. There are still problems though. Some sites have decided not to let my browser remember the passwords to their site. There’s a tag that can make my browser not use it’s remembrance features. Also, the keychain UI isn’t really designed for the user to spend much time browsing in there. As an
ISP, I deal with customer issues somewhat frequently of forgotten passwords.
I guess my point is I don’t know what’s best to do about passwords either. I like the idea of one central place for everything I access to authenticate against. I don’t like the idea of that central authentication mechanism being out of my control (like Microsoft having the passport database of all my personal information to dole out to web sites and a list of sites that I have accounts with).
So called “phishing” attacks are efforts of unscrupulous people trying to trick you into giving them information they can use to gain access to financial data (like your paypal account name and password). All of these attacks boil down to stealing authentication information. It’s a big problem and getting bigger. I think good authentication may be one of the biggest challenges we face today.
Posted in Security | no comments
Posted by Doug
Wed, 09 Feb 2005 12:57:00 GMT
I participated in
EyesOnTheScreen last night. Including my wife and I, there were seven of us. I was a little disappointed in the turn out, but really appreciate my friends that showed. Watching these videos has had a deep impact on me. The material is astounding. Assuming it’s correct, I still find it unbelievable.
First, looking back at it through the lens of Today it seems impossible that many of the things could possibly have happened. How could the governor of Virginia decide it was better to close high schools and not educate their children than to allow black children to attend a white high school?
Second, the whole thing freaks me out when looked at the the lens of my past. The desegregation of schools in particular impacts me because I was somewhat involved in Louisiana. Also, I’m familiar with similar issues. The videos keep showing whites of the South saying things like, “This is our heritage.” I keep hearing the word “heritage” used to defend their actions. Like it’s OK to beat and kill blacks to save their “heritage”. Recently there’s been a big bru-ha-ha over the state of South Carolina (where my parents live) flying the Confederate Battle Flag over the State Capital. The defense of whites even now used the phrase “heritage not hate”. It’s a catchy phrase, but the scene of whites waving the “bars and stars” and shouting “heritage” is just too much to shake.
Maybe I’m just hyper-sensitive to it, but I didn’t feel the film was having the same impact on those there last night. I don’t know if I’m just more susceptible to moral outrage than the average joe. I don’t know if my own history makes me more susceptible to this particular moral outrage. I don’t know if they just needed time to processes it all. Anyway you cut it, I guess I should be used to things that are important to me not being important to many other people.
Last night’s turn out is my own fault though. I didn’t do near enough to advertise locally and in public channels. Sadly
I have to admit that not many Cincinnatians read my blog. I have to conclude it’s not an effective advertising tool to reach local people.
Posted in Politics | no comments
Posted by Doug
Tue, 08 Feb 2005 14:16:00 GMT
OK, today’s
EyesOnTheScreen day. Tonight at 8:00pm I’ll be showing the first episode, “Awakenings 1954-1956”, of the “Eyes on the Prize” documentary at my church building. I’m excited about it. I feel like in a small way I’m participating in that age old conflict by remembering and highlighting it. I don’t know how many people will come. I’m afraid I’ll be disappointed if there are only three or four. I know of only three people who’ve confirmed to come. I’ll feel a bit silly making a big deal over this and then no one showing up.
I’ve been watching the three videos I have on the bus to and from work. This is very compelling work. I highly recommend you try and find a copy of this video. I was able to check it out of the Cincinnati library for my screening tonight. I’m just overpowered by how much I didn’t know. I see pieces of my childhood foreshadowed in some of these speeches that were given. Hearing them in this context sickens me. More than a few times I’ve almost been moved to tears.
Only tangentially related, I had a flash-back this morning. When I lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana my parents got me accepted into a “Gifted and Talented” program. This was during the height of the desegregation of Baton Rouge’s schools. What they were doing was busing white kids from the suburbs into black schools and vice versa in order to maintain a balanced ratio of kids. So, my elementary school was a “desegregated” school. I rode the bus about an hour to an hour and a half each way to a school in downtown-ish Baton Rouge. All of the kids in my class were part of the G/T program. We had one wing of the school that was all G/T. The rest of the school was “normal”. So, our wing was white and the rest of the school was black; very “desegregated”.
Our class size was purposefully kept small and each teacher had an aide. Here’s where my flash-back comes in. My first G/T teacher was Mrs. Tossan (I have no idea how to spell it). Her aide was Mrs. Domino. Mrs. Domino (like all the teacher’s aides) was black. That’s really the only tie between this flash-back and this blog post. I remember we were making something at school that required us to bring in some sugar. Almost everyone brought in Domino brand sugar. As kids, the discovery of our teacher’s aide’s name on a box of sugar was a big deal. I haven’t seen a box of Domino sugar in a long time. Last night Carla bought me some “Brownulated Light Brown Sugar” with low carbs and low calories for my oat meal I eat at work. When I pulled it out of my lunch bag I saw it was Domino brand sugar.
And there you are; full circle. My wife bought me some Domino sugar for the first time in years and years that reminded me of my third grade teacher’s aide, Mrs. Domino, who was black on a day that I’m hosting the screening of a documentary of the Civil Rights Movement.
Posted in Politics | no comments
