nytimes.com— RSA Security is working with military companies to replace their SecurID tokens “on an accelerated timetable,” the company’s executive chairman said.
Jun 7, 2011View in Crawl 4
These devices are intended as a communications security devices.
People I have talked to think this class of device is a "get out of jail" card that will protect them after they have let their computer get infected by malware. It is not.
It only fully works if there computer has not been infected with malware that has been infected to work around it. Some malware does, and has been around a while if you read the news reports.
AFAIK it works fine if your computer has not been compromised, and the system itself which may be the case from reading the article, has not been compromised.
They don't work forever, either. Eventually the digital keys/certificates/whatever will expire or the battery will die and you will have to buy a new one - or switch to a different scheme - someday.
Sounds like in an emergency, businesses and home users are second-class citizens and have to wait at the back of the line.
Understandable, perhaps.
But it shows that computer users and shoppers & purchasing authorities need to be cautious and skeptical.
Having risk-aversive usage habits, constantly asking "is this a safe thing to do - is there a safer way or even can I skip it even though it would be nice/convenient?" helps users and coworkers & acquaintances.
Just buying a device that does something or other by itself clearly just does part of the job that you have to do every day.
johnnysoftwareJun 7, 2011Submitter
These devices are intended as a communications security devices.
People I have talked to think this class of device is a "get out of jail" card that will protect them after they have let their computer get infected by malware. It is not.
It only fully works if there computer has not been infected with malware that has been infected to work around it. Some malware does, and has been around a while if you read the news reports.
AFAIK it works fine if your computer has not been compromised, and the system itself which may be the case from reading the article, has not been compromised.
They don't work forever, either. Eventually the digital keys/certificates/whatever will expire or the battery will die and you will have to buy a new one - or switch to a different scheme - someday.
Seems to beat passwords in general, though.
johnnysoftwareJun 7, 2011Submitter
Sounds like in an emergency, businesses and home users are second-class citizens and have to wait at the back of the line.
Understandable, perhaps.
But it shows that computer users and shoppers & purchasing authorities need to be cautious and skeptical.
Having risk-aversive usage habits, constantly asking "is this a safe thing to do - is there a safer way or even can I skip it even though it would be nice/convenient?" helps users and coworkers & acquaintances.
Just buying a device that does something or other by itself clearly just does part of the job that you have to do every day.