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Hello,
In the wise words of vuln_at_hexview.com, on Wednesday 04 August 2004 07:08:
> Clear text password exposure in Datakey's tokens and smartcards
[SNIP]
> Cause and Effect:
> =================
> The communication channel between the token and the driver is not
> encrypted. User's PIN can be retrieved using proxy driver or hardware
> sniffer.
Note that this is true for almost all card readers on the market, not only for
Datakey's. Having worked for companies using crypto smart cards, I have
conducted a few risk analysis about that. The conclusion has always been that
if the PIN must be entered from a PC, and the attacker has means to install
software on the system (through directed viruses, social engineering, etc),
the game's over.
The only solution against that problem is to have the PIN entered using a
keypad on the reader. Only then does the cost of an attack raise
significantly. But that is opening another can of worms, because there is
(was?) no standard for card readers with attached pin pad (at the time,
PC/SCv2 wasn't finalised - is it?).
[SNIP]
Cheers,
Lionel
- --
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
Lionel Ferette
BELNET CERT Coordinator
Rue de la Science 4 Tel: +32 2 7903385
1000 Brussels Fax: +32 2 7903375
Belgium PGP Key Id: 0x5662FD4B
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Received on Aug 04 2004
Intro
