Le samedi 28 juin 2003 � 09:42:09, Arno Wilhelm a �crit: > does anybody know wheter there exists a "bootprotection project" for > linux/(windows?) that uses smartcard or usb tokens? It must be a programm > that resides in the mbr and only boots when the user can authenticate with > a smartcard/usb token.
Acer is selling laptops with a smartcard protection at the boot/BIOS level [1]. What surprises me on this web page is: Q9. What should I do if I lose or damage my SmartCard? Will I still be able to access my system? When you first initialize the SmartCard in the TravelMate, the system will request you to insert a blank diskette and save necessary information into it. This diskette becomes the emergency recovery disk. If you lose your SmartCard, you can use the emergency recovery disk to unlock the system and/or access the secured information, restoring your original setup. However, to re-enable SmartCard security, the system must be returned to an authorized Acer service centre. Generally, this procedure will entail a nominal service fee. So the smartcard seams to be used to (at most) store a secret key (since a diskette can do the same) but with a PIN protection. I have an Acer laptop but not one with a smartcard proctection so I can't tell much about it :-( I don't know how easy (or hard) it would be to do it by software in a first level boot. Maybe with a BIOS based on Linux? Regards, [1] http://www.global.acer.com/products/notebook/smartcard.htm -- Dr. Ludovic Rousseau [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Normaliser Unix c'est comme pasteuriser le camembert, L.R. -- _______________________________________________ Muscle mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.musclecard.com/mailman/listinfo/muscle
