Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 17 Dec 1999 05:51:33 -0500 (EST) | From | Stephen Frost <> | Subject | Re: disabling Intel PSN |
| |
On Fri, 17 Dec 1999, Olaf Titz wrote:
> > Some of us USE the PSN for good and not evil. I hacked ssh to append > > the PSN of all cpus in my system in ascending order to my passphrase. > > That's an extra 24 bytes of passphrase that I don't have to type but > > still keeps me feeling that much more secure. If my passphrase is > > somehow compromised, I'm ok unless someone has physical access to my > > machine. > > Or network access to your account, in that case. Reading the PSN > doesn't require physical access (unless you dig deeper in the kernel > to require a process to own the console for that, not sure if this is > possible). > > What you describe is roughly equivalent to storing the 24 extra bytes > in a local file or in a hacked copy of the ssh program itself.
Which actually decreases security because it's no longer just in your head. :) This means that a bad guy can learn part of your pass- phrase, and with that have a potentionally easier time figuring out the rest.
Stephen
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |