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I'd rather a fingerprint to lock my phone and always lock on screen blank, than a pin so complex I'll hardly ever lock my phone. If you're living as some kind

by mavhc 10y ago

I'd rather a fingerprint to lock my phone and always lock on screen blank, than a pin so complex I'll hardly ever lock my phone. If you're living as some kind of enemy of the state maybe it's just time to stop developing software. And do you really need to holiday in North Korea?

Tepix 10y ago
Ideally you have both: Unlock the phone with the fingerprint and unlock more private data with a passphrase. Same for password managers: Are there any that allow you to split your data into two categories: Protected by fingerprint and protected by passphrase? I'd love to see that feature.
- gnur 10y ago
  You could probably attain that by using 2 password managers.
  - Tepix 10y ago
    Good idea!
- hrktb 10y ago
  Otherwise you could allow fingerprinting only within 10 min after the last unlock. This would cover the case where you use your phone a lot and need to lock/unlock faster, while forcing a password entry when your phone gets stolen or used behind your back. You can still be forced to unlock it right after usage, but at this point you might have bigger problems.
  - Tepix 10y ago
    It's a good idea, however I'm not sure apps currently have access to this data ("phone was unlocked by fingerprints X seconds ago").
- zeveb 10y ago
  A fingerprint cannot protect data, since it's both public and low-entropy. It can authenticate identity to someone who holds the data. I.e., you cannot securely encrypt something with a function of your fingerprint: anyone can cycle through fingerprint representations and eventually get decrypt the data (or the key to the data). You can, however, authenticate yourself to someone (or something) which holds a plaintext encryption key, and once you have been given the key, decrypt the encrypted data. This only works if you can trust the person or thing to never give the key to an unauthenticated part. That only works with hardware, since any software which holds a key in plaintext can be examined to extract the key.
  - Tepix 10y ago
    A fingerprint can offer some protection for your data, many times it will be sufficient protection and sometimes it will provide better protection than a weak password.
Mikushi 10y ago
Or may be it's just time to consider the state for the enemy that it really is. They are the main targets of such security measures, "hackers" are really not a concern, state actors on the hand have proven to be major threats. I will not let their fear tactics get in the way of my freedom of doing what I please without fear of leaks, theft or spying, be it directed toward my person or as a simple passive measure.
pavel_lishin 10y ago
I don't need to go to North Korea, but I'd certainly like to visit my family in Russia again.

by mavhc 10y ago

Tepix 10y ago

Ideally you have both: Unlock the phone with the fingerprint and unlock more private data with a passphrase. Same for password managers: Are there any that allow you to split your data into two categories: Protected by fingerprint and protected by passphrase? I'd love to see that feature.

gnur 10y ago
You could probably attain that by using 2 password managers.
- Tepix 10y ago
  Good idea!
hrktb 10y ago
Otherwise you could allow fingerprinting only within 10 min after the last unlock. This would cover the case where you use your phone a lot and need to lock/unlock faster, while forcing a password entry when your phone gets stolen or used behind your back. You can still be forced to unlock it right after usage, but at this point you might have bigger problems.
- Tepix 10y ago
  It's a good idea, however I'm not sure apps currently have access to this data ("phone was unlocked by fingerprints X seconds ago").
zeveb 10y ago
A fingerprint cannot protect data, since it's both public and low-entropy. It can authenticate identity to someone who holds the data. I.e., you cannot securely encrypt something with a function of your fingerprint: anyone can cycle through fingerprint representations and eventually get decrypt the data (or the key to the data). You can, however, authenticate yourself to someone (or something) which holds a plaintext encryption key, and once you have been given the key, decrypt the encrypted data. This only works if you can trust the person or thing to never give the key to an unauthenticated part. That only works with hardware, since any software which holds a key in plaintext can be examined to extract the key.
- Tepix 10y ago
  A fingerprint can offer some protection for your data, many times it will be sufficient protection and sometimes it will provide better protection than a weak password.

Mikushi 10y ago

Or may be it's just time to consider the state for the enemy that it really is. They are the main targets of such security measures, "hackers" are really not a concern, state actors on the hand have proven to be major threats. I will not let their fear tactics get in the way of my freedom of doing what I please without fear of leaks, theft or spying, be it directed toward my person or as a simple passive measure.

pavel_lishin 10y ago

I don't need to go to North Korea, but I'd certainly like to visit my family in Russia again.