nanog mailing list archives

Re: Temp at Level 3 data centers


From: Baldur Norddahl <baldur.norddahl () gmail com>
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2017 00:55:56 +0200

Den 11. okt. 2017 22.47 skrev "William Herrin" <bill () herrin us>:

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 4:32 PM, Jörg Kost <jk () ip-clear de> wrote:

Do you guys still at least have biometric access control devices at your
Level3 dc? They even removed this things at our site, because there is no
budget for a successor for the failing unit. And to be consistent, they
event want to remove all biometric access devices at least across Germany.


Hi  Jörg,

IMO, biometric was a gimmick in the first place and a bad idea when
carefully considered. All authenticators can be compromised. Hence, all
authenticators must be replaceable following a compromise. If one of your
DCs' palm vein databases is lost, what's your plan for replacing that hand?


Basic two or three factor authentication: something that you know
(password), something that you are (biometric) and something that you have
(access card).

You can tell your password to a coworker but he can not borrow your hand.
Hence you need both. The password is the replaceable part.


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