Graphical Sercurity

[emcp]

ok,
im a guy of security, everything i own is branded etc with my name in its flash

psp, phone etc....

anyway because of pandoras touch screen, which hasnt been used in mush if any vids now, i was thinkin how about a graphical password

there 3 methods i can think of

1, one boot up your presented with a blank screen (so those who dont know what to do, thief dont even know how to enter the password)
and draw any shape, the lines are then ofcourse put into intervals of 10,20,30 etc intervals of degrees, this might need changed to 20degree intervals etc
this makes it easier to reenter the password, only the angles are recorded and must be matched

another way similar to the above is just touch places on the screen and a line will be drawn and then line is corrected into the intervals, the next line then goes from the place last touch to the place currently being touch

2. another is have rows and columns of squares, and you simply touch several squares in order to draw a picture

3. another is have the pandora box logo, and you must trace it using your own preconfigured way for example the left side then the right side etc

ofcourse all of these will be backed up with a traditional password, and would be of choice set in the gui, or as a possible add-on

if anyone wants me to get script written up for the psp i can, but then it doesnt have touch screen just have to use the analogue

the reason for the graphical password, is because its quicker, its proven that people remember shapes than words easier, and it makes use of the touch screen

4. also there 1000s of ways, but how about having planes(squares) floating around the screen in a 3d environment, in different colours, with the pandora logo in the middle, and you must select the colour of squares in order.

you get 3 attempts for all these methods, and after your third, you must boot without the sd card in or something similar and then insert it, the history of previous attempts are then wiped and your free to try again

the entire security behind this is that theres no dialogues telling you what to do, and its unlikely a theft will spend time trying to figure it out, and then figure your password out, which could have millions of possibilities and then get you text password right

see security at its finest
what do yous think

i could also get screens drawn up to illustrate, or like a said code something up quickly for the psp.

 

[Niros]

A password will not usually deter the theft of a small item. When was the last time someone had their mobile phone stolen, only for it to be given back because the thief couldn't work out their pin number.

A login screen should be enough to stop "friends" and colleagues looking for a quick nab, and if your (and you appear to be) a little bit paranoid. Just have a 64bit password.

Although, some of those suggestions would make for fun games. Not to sure about the punishment for making a mistake being; not booting the OS.

 

[greendots]

Nothing will stop it from being stolen. Make sure you dont leave passwords on it and dont set up auto complete forms. Make sure you encrypt anything personal and make sure not to store anything too important.

 

[atomicthumbs]

The only security I need is a sturdy steel cable.

 

[Origin]

For the most part, this will seem like unimportant and bothersome feature to most users. However, for those that want to dismiss the idea right away, please keep in mind that we're trying to keep Pandora open to everyone who wants to develop features and programs that suit their own needs.

If you don't like emcp's idea, then move onto the next thread. If you have something constructive to add to his ideas, by all means. Hes not demanding his graphical security ideas be shipped with the pandora or anything, so let him use the forum as his whiteboard, why not? Maybe enough people will find a use in his idea.

Anyway, the only device I can think of that had a "graphical" password was my Newton PDA from way back. It was the first mainstream pure touch screen device to my knowledge, so it was really trying to push people to use things like handwriting recognition. As such, if you wanted to password protect your Newton, you were given the option to enter the password either by writing it out, or by tapping on the keyboard. I used this feature as for quite some time I used the Newton as my "journal", so I naturally liked to keep my thoughts to myself.

Nothing beats the simplicity of just remembering a short phrase as your password. I see that you want to do something with the touchscreen, so maybe you could look into handwriting recognition algorithms?

Also, it sounds like you're somewhat concerned about the data on your devices, if you're going to be storing sensitive data on it, then perhaps you should look into greater encryption methods. Unless you were planning to tie some kind of system-wide encryption with your graphical password, someone could always just take the SD card out of the Pandora and read the contents on their computer, right?

-Origin

 

[cosam]

...its unlikely a theft will spend time trying to figure it out, and then figure your password out, which could have millions of possibilities and then get you text password right

You're right - no thief will spend time trying to crack your passwords. They'll just re-flash the device and sell it on.

 

[mindlord]

I plan on having my Pandora surgically implanted in my left forearm. How's that for security!

 

[hede]

... Newton PDA ...

Yea! Good Old Newton

Nothing beats the simplicity of just remembering a short phrase as your password. I see that you want to do something with the touchscreen, so maybe you could look into handwriting recognition algorithms?

Pandora will have a keyboard, this would be futile...
I think emcp really thought of some really unreadable non-alphabetic character symbols.

Also, it sounds like you're somewhat concerned about the data on your devices, if you're going to be storing sensitive data on it, then perhaps you should look into greater encryption methods. Unless you were planning to tie some kind of system-wide encryption with your graphical password, someone could always just take the SD card out of the Pandora and read the contents on their computer, right?

Is there any cryptsetup/dmcrypt/luks port for embedded devices? A password would be really useless without encryption for these small and really easy to steal devices.
You do not need to encrypt the whole flash or even anything at the internal flash. I would suggest some login system (uncommon for gaming handhelds, right?) with data-partition encryption like many people are using at their home computer. I'm using an encrypted /home with pam-mount (decrypted with the login password) for example. Its not secure if someone installs a trojan horse (or similar) but a normal thief won't get any data.

 

[emcp]

ok, maybe i should clarify a few things

i bring my psp, phone etc into school, everyone else in my class has had theirs stolen, but if you manage to make something out of the ordinary, put it like this most schoolboys wouldnt have a clue.

also id suspect id probably be the only one in my school with a pandora, and there might be probably 2 other people in it that know about it.

so it going to be easy to stop it in someones hand, i could then accuse them of stealing and enter my password, sure a word password might work, but if they turn it on just after its stolen, and are presented with a blank screen, theyd probably put it back,

the reason why i dont like word passwords, is while the pandora has a QWERTY keyboard, drawing would be quicker, also like, i said images are easier to remember than words,

and for some people this can be a huge help,

also it was only a thought, and while they could just flash it, i dont see anyone who lives here doing it, theyre just far too lazy lol

and sure theres always a back door to everything

it doesnt stop me from making it, and making it available to others to secure other data in a homebrew games or what not .....

also its not that im paranoid, i just dont like the ********, getting a one over on someone, so if i can make it as difficult as possible, while speeding the of entering a password, ill do it

finally, i wasnt going to punish the user my not booting the os, not booting until a command is met, so it makes it more difficult for a thief to know what to do

anyway just a thought, id probably do it, even just to get to grips with the pandora, its a learning experience anyway

 

[rmm2131]

Paranoia aside, it would be nice to have some simple boot login.

 

[benjiro]

To be honest, the best thing you can wish for, is not to prevent the thief from gaining access to your system, but for them to use it!

Remember, it has Wifi. Nothing more fun as having the thief accessing its home Wifi network, and you getting a mail with its exact IP, and other data

Its not the first time that stupid thief's have been capture like that. Seen a few dozen examples of that already. Thief's in-front of stolen laptops ( web cam ), auto login to messengers from there home connection, resulting in a ip -> capture etc.

To be honest, the most fun solution is: Show a graphic password screen that looks like a normal password prompt. Any thief will think or try to type its password. In reality, the system now boots up, with the above features...

The idea that, if they can't get it to work, they will put it back, is not going to fly. Most thief's are not going to be using it at the same location. In other words, by the time the theft is noticed, they have no reason at all of putting it back. Thats just one more way to identify them ( getting spotted putting it back, fingerprints, dna, etc ). No, they will rather trow it in the trash bin, or in a river, then returning it...

And, put all security minded documents, and other things you don't want anybody to access under root level, and only work under user level. And when you need to access documents, etc, type your password, but do NOT check the "remember" or whatever check box. To many people do that, and in effect, you have access to root form there user accounts. Thank you *grrr*

 

[javaJake]

The IP capture was what I was thinking too. Maybe a packet-capture software to see if I can't grab any identity information.

The best security you're going to get is if you keep it with you at all times, use a long semi-random-looking password, and encrypted partitions on the SD cards (and internal flash, if possible, to keep it from booting without the right credentials).

 

[emcp]

put it like this my passwords are in irish, you know the forgotten language lol,

anyway yh capturing data on the fly from the wifi is a problem, but id mainly just password protect devices for school, and in school youd always pass them several times a day so if theyre carrying it the idiots would probably show it around

anyway once again, the device is gone, but if they chuck it in the river at least they dont get it

also if its stolen in school,they dont know your house so thats not the problem, if its stolen from your house, ohh well theres a hurl with 50 nails beside your bed for that, i also dont sleep much an hour or two a night, so chances are theyre run into me, and theres always someone in the house

 

[lastrite]

For theft protection, I'll probably write a simple script to email me the current internet IP address (filtered to a specific folder in my inbox).

If anyone ever steals it and attempts to go online, I'll simply forward the info to the Police :wink:

 

[PoisonedV]

It won't deter theft but it would deter prying eyes...
not to mention they just sound fun :lol:

 

[truekaiser]

Considering what the target of this handheld is. Also considering that in the united states the pro ip act passed i think it would be a very smart idea to have a option or at least a ability for us usa customers to have full disk encryption of both the internal flash(liked but can do with out), and any sdhc cards used. since we all know what the legal status is on rom's..

 

[Lorkile]

<I> "4. also there 1000s of ways, but how about having planes(squares) floating around the screen in a 3d environment, in different colours, with the pandora logo in the middle, and you must select the colour of squares in order." </I>

This is the idea that really struck me, it means a solid looking boot for those who don't know about the device and a simple encryption that wouldn't be too bothersome for me to accept doing it every time I boot the device.

Hope you would get this working, and clean looking. It seems like it would be a nice sort of intro with which to show off some of the more interesting forms of security and if I start using it as a journal to deter her from randomly thefting it to draw on.

 

[stupot]

I also like the idea that if instead of the standard 4 press lock code being entered you could enter a 8 digit code that booted into a 'safe' mode e.g made it look like a personal dictionary device.