New authentication hardware for Panther?

yomofo

Looking at "Performing Privileged Operations with Authorization Services", it says:



"In future releases of Mac OS X, the user might produce a smart card, use a biometric identifier, such as a fingerprint or retinal scan, or use a combination of authentication methods."



Anyone think some of these bits of hardware will be integrated into new Apple displays, or is the technology even here yet and cheap enough to dovetail with Panther? Remember when Apple was the first to integrate voice-login just with a microphone... I think in OS 9.



Apple could certainly bring back voice-login with almost no effort... the Flat Panel iMac DOES have an embedded microphone... and a new line of displays for the powermacs could piggy-back a microphone on the ADC signal as a USB microphone, which I'm guessing is how the FP iMac mic works...



Anyone forsee retinal scanning logins or bluetooth-enabled-smart-cards on the horizon this month? I think a bluetooth card on your keychain is the most practical right now, and would be easy in itself to market, but could also be used to market Panther.



P.S. I'm asking for speculation about the hardware itself, so please don't say this belongs in the software section of AI.

barto

The iMac's display is NOT ADC. It is connected to the base using a power and TDMS cable.



The microphone connects to the base using and audio cable. Where it plugs into an microphone in port.



It is a possibility that Apple would introduce microphones in their new displays, but there has not been recent precedent for that.



As far as those complex, hi-tech (read: $$$) solutions you describe, I think it would be difficult to justify the cost of embedding them into Macs.



I'm sure authentication of this sort will be implemented in software, for third-party hardware makers to take advantage of.



Barto

yomofo

I didn't realize, but this is old beans. Check this discussion out, from December, over at MacSlash. Sorry, I'm still trying to learn about how authorization services work and I thought maybe it'd interest some people...

inkhead

Well Apple needs to do a better job bragging about what they do have. Mac OS X was built from the ground up to have the best smart card and biometrics support for 3rd party hardware. Check out with a local university lab that works with this kinda stuff and they probably are developing on Mac OS X.



Even the hardcore unix and Window divisions at major research universities use nothing but OS X for this type of development.



Somebody should post a link to more about it. I don't have all the details but I know Mac OS X has better support than most unix enviroments out of the box.

scott

huh?

inkhead

Somebody who programs can explain better. Apple has a huge advantage in authentication, smart cards, finger print, and biometrics with underlying os x stuff. Can somebody with more knowledge (who works in the field) explain it for everybody?



Run a "man pam" in the Terminal sometime and you'll read all about Pluggable Authentication Modules, something that has been in FreeBSD (and OS X) for a while now.



All this guy is talking about is for someone to potentially write a PAM module to tie into whatever scheme Apple thinks up, whether it's a hardware-based thumbprint reader, or a voice scanner, or whatever.

crusader

Wow, I could use retinal scaning to keep my porn collection safe! Rock on Apple. Seriously I think this would have applications when Goverment agencies purchase Macs, plus with private firms that need the extra security. Both groups would most likely incure the expense of such an option.

scott

That's interesting. In my area, medicine, we are being thunked on the skull by HIPPA. One issue is how to secure computers and software against intrusion in the office. I'm not sure OS X has the corner on this area though.