4 ms·

This guy must have been joking. The fact that HE always types his passwords alone in his office does not mean that any sane person would like a possibility that

by fb 17y ago

This guy must have been joking. The fact that HE always types his passwords alone in his office does not mean that any sane person would like a possibility that anyone ever has a chance to see his password. Apparently, some people are not always alone...

Edinburger 17y ago
Yes, good luck to anyone in (a) an open-plan office or (b) an office with security cameras.
- cruise02 17y ago
  or c) at a coffee shop with wi-fi.
  - ghshephard 17y ago
    Different problem and solution. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Sockets_Layer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Sockets_Layer
- mooism2 17y ago
  Are the security cameras trained on the screen or the keyboard?
  - eli 17y ago
    Would you know?
    - tezza 17y ago
      And would you know if they just recorded the keys your fingers pressed? I think Jakob is really onto something here.
      - pygy 17y ago
        They could record the sound of the keypresses too. They may be impossible to discriminate subjectively, but they all have a distinct signature...
        mgj 17y ago
        Yep, see: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~zf/papers/keyboard-ccs05.pdf http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~zf/papers/keyboard-ccs05.pdf
- tokenadult 17y ago
  "Of course, a truly skilled criminal can simply look at the keyboard and note which keys are being pressed. So, password masking doesn't even protect fully against snoopers. "More importantly, there's usually nobody looking over your shoulder when you log in to a website."
apgwoz 17y ago
> The fact that HE always ... I agree with this statement entirely, but wonder if in a mobile setting, like with an iPhone if this isn't a bad idea. There have been many times where I tried to look over at someones iPhone to see what they were doing and simply couldn't see. I'm talking as close as 2 feet away. And since I know how annoying it can be to type passwords on my iPod Touch, I could see the value of this--but only on devices with very small screens, and WITHOUT any sort of auto-fill from the browser. Of course, it should be an opt-in sort of setting. No vendor should decide your fate when it comes to security decisions like this.

by fb 17y ago

Edinburger 17y ago

Yes, good luck to anyone in (a) an open-plan office or (b) an office with security cameras.

cruise02 17y ago
or c) at a coffee shop with wi-fi.
- ghshephard 17y ago
  Different problem and solution. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Sockets_Layer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Sockets_Layer
mooism2 17y ago
Are the security cameras trained on the screen or the keyboard?
- eli 17y ago
  Would you know?
  - tezza 17y ago
    And would you know if they just recorded the keys your fingers pressed? I think Jakob is really onto something here.
    - pygy 17y ago
      They could record the sound of the keypresses too. They may be impossible to discriminate subjectively, but they all have a distinct signature...
      - mgj 17y ago
        Yep, see: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~zf/papers/keyboard-ccs05.pdf http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~zf/papers/keyboard-ccs05.pdf
tokenadult 17y ago
"Of course, a truly skilled criminal can simply look at the keyboard and note which keys are being pressed. So, password masking doesn't even protect fully against snoopers. "More importantly, there's usually nobody looking over your shoulder when you log in to a website."

apgwoz 17y ago

> The fact that HE always ... I agree with this statement entirely, but wonder if in a mobile setting, like with an iPhone if this isn't a bad idea. There have been many times where I tried to look over at someones iPhone to see what they were doing and simply couldn't see. I'm talking as close as 2 feet away. And since I know how annoying it can be to type passwords on my iPod Touch, I could see the value of this--but only on devices with very small screens, and WITHOUT any sort of auto-fill from the browser. Of course, it should be an opt-in sort of setting. No vendor should decide your fate when it comes to security decisions like this.