Windows 10: Making Windows 10 More Personal and More Secure with Windows Hello

I sense a new MS business. INSURANCE.



If you buy this machine and planning to use these security features, you now have to insure your eyes, your fingers, your voice and the way you look.

The more MS makes their OS secure, the more they pose danger to the users.

 

Quite right. All my work laptops have come with a fingerprint reader for more than 10 years. And a smartcard reader. I've been using fingerprint to power on laptop, unlock TPM and sign in since windows 7. Since Windows 8 I haven't needed the Lenovo software to do this - it has been built into Windows.

It is also far more convenient - one swipe and laptop powers on and logs you in. If I want to do a UAC override for my son I swipe my finger - I don't have to type in my user name and password. Already you can use fingerprint to remember user name and password for many websites.

Fingerprints are not new untested technology - for the last 6 years I've used fingerprint and smart card to pass immigration in Dubai so presumably they at least think it is fairly reliable.

What would be useful is if banks etc buy into a method of authentication like MS Hello. Having to type in the 3rd, 7th and 8th characters of your mothers maiden name followed by entering the name of your first school etc really is a pain and this is something that a password manager can't do. If they would accept a security token based on biometrics or whatever instead that would be great.

There is no compulsion here (yet) - if you want to remember 50 different passwords or use the same one for all your logons then go ahead - that is your prerogative. For me at least more secure and more convenient is an advantage.

 

My old laptop has a fingerprint reader, but guess what - I've never used it. I played with it for half an hour when the laptop came, it did not look stable, so I forgot about it. My newer laptops don;t have that feature.

On my home PC I don't even use a password. I honestly don't see what's the point of it. There's me and my wife and only one account on the machine, since my wife only uses the PC for internet, so there is no need for a separate account. My kid is not allowed to mess with my machine anyways *Wink. All of the remote access to the PC is turned off, so you can't connect to it unless you hack something and get past the hardware firewall in the router. And of course, I turn off the machine when I'm not using it, it certainly can't be hacked when it's off. In these circumstances, there is not need for user authentication at all, password or biometric. I believe same goes for most home users.

Now banks and web services are a different story. But the three-level authentication used here in Germany is probably more adequate then any advanced sign-in technique. What I mean is that in order to make any transaction with the bank I have to enter a code from a piece of paper that nobody else has, or alternatively get the code as a text message, but that code is valid for a very short time. Sure, all of that can be circumvented if anyone really wants to. But I doubt my bank account is of any interest to those who can pull it off.

That last point is really what makes the biggest difference - if someone is determined enough and has enough resources, any security can be hacked or otherwise circumvented. Lucky for most of us it's not an issue at all, since no one actually wants to do this to us. And that (together with an insurance policy) is our best security measure!

 

I didn't know that there were that many laptops that had a fingerprint reader on them. Interesting that it's that far along. All I want to see is how this goes before I can really judge if I want that or not. Assuming it works fine I will get a separate part to make use of that.

 

Face recognition - extremely important feature, especially on cell phones. Most new devices have forward facing "Skype/Selfie" cameras. If it works well, replaces alphanumeric passwords with unhackable passwords. Fingerprints can be hacked already, taking a print right off the stolen device with baby powder and scotch tape, then photographed and faked using a 3D printer. Many people are too lazy to use multiple passwords, they use their logon "hackable with an open wifi connection" password to logon to their bank accounts.

 

Source please

 

Posting the hack is against forum rules I would imagine,
But iphones have already been hacked taking a finger print off of one and accessing the device,
Not easy but doable with the right equipment but it's much easier to cut off fingers *Smile

 

I believe the "hack" in question was for the kid to press the iPhone sensor against the "security expert" fathers finger while he was asleep. http://www.business2community.com/te...phone-01084983

Anyway, for your method (I put it in bold), which presumably isn't against forum rules, what would you recommend? A sharp knife? Scissors? Do you have to keep them warm?

All of these "fingerprints are not secure" claims are FUD. Do you honestly thing multiple governments would use them for border control if you could fake it with a bit of scotch tape stuck on a carrot like in the movies? Sorry if I've mislaid my tin-foil hat today...

 

The fun stuff as now begun. . .I know, this, I have read this, A guy told me, my girl friend's mother had this happen to her. . . get out the ice cream, the popcorn, a couple of beers (or whatever you may drink) because here comes the B.S. . . .*Wink

 

Like with most things, there are commercial, professional, and government level security versions of these devices. Often times, the government mandates "lower security" versions for commercial implementations. And the Government level versions usually have much more sophisticated systems that are much more expensive, and more difficult to bypass.

Your example of immigration is not the same thing as a phone or PC. There is an immigration official standing in front of you, who can observe you and notice if you have anything weird affixed to your hand. They also have monitors and can see the identity of the person who is supposedly being given access and compare the photo to the actual person. This is a multi-factor authentication using a human being for verification. Fingerprints are used simply to speed up the process.

 

Lee, that is so unfair. My wife's mothers cousin definitely said to my second cousin uncle twice removed that (without a doubt) if you have a $400K 3D printer you can definitely chop someones finger off, stick it in a pot of oil, dance the fandango and out pops a gremlin. So there - it is true.

Best I go back to XP now in a sulk. Or Linux if you prefer.

 

No, Mystere there is not an immigration officer standing in front of you. You have obviously not been a UAE resident.

You have a card which has your retina and fingerprint scan and it is compared in the booth. It takes about 3 seconds and off you go. Sure they have cameras and may pull you aside (if they don't like the look of you for some reason) but if your bio-metrics match your card why would they bother?

 

This article presents interesting alternatives to using a password -- but if MS really wants the hordes of Win7 users to "upgrade" to Win10, they will have to retain password usage -- for a long time! If fingerprint readers, or face scanners, become readily available, at low costs, and are extremely reliable and accurate, this may encourage long-time Win7 users to go out and buy the add-ons for Win10.

That said, this smells of yet another of MS's contradictory stands -- they want huge numbers of folks to embrace their new products but then, they are eager about tossing the "legacy" folks under the bus. As in ... we want all you Win7 folks to jump on the Win10 bandwagon, so we're giving it to you for free -- but, BTW, we're taking away your "old-fashioned" use of passwords and forcing you to buy new, unproven, unreliable equipment because we're really only interested in having folks that have the newest and latest hardware.

 

I'm pretty sure Microsoft is one of the only companies not throwing people under the bus, now Google and Apple there's a couple of companies who don't mind throwing people under the bus.
Go and have a look at Macrumors and see what Tim Cook has to say on the subject.

 

There's little difference between an officer standing in front of you and one watching a camera that's in your face.