Re: disabling Intel PSN
H. Peter Anvin (hpa@transmeta.com)
16 Dec 1999 16:28:46 -0800
Followup to: <385968B9.B4A10F56@oceania.net>
By author: Kevin Waterson <kevin@oceania.net>
In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
>
> nil 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. With physical access of course, all bets are off.
>
> How long till the script kiddies can fake a PSN
>
Zero, if you mean *any* PSN. As used by Nathan, it's just 2x8
additional bytes of pass phrase, and it is just as secure as a
passphrase; no more, no less. (I'm saying 2x8 bytes, since the
additional 2x4 bytes are completely predictable.)
-hpa
--
<hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private!
"Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
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