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Idea #30284: easier to unlock screen

Written by theQxQ the 26 Oct 12 at 17:04. Related project: Live CD. Status: New
Rationale
I find myself constintly locking the screen to do something as simple as getting a drink of water. yet when I come back a minuet later, I have to type in my huge password, meant to keep people from hacking in while it's shut down. I don't need that much securty while my computer is locked for just a couple minuets, just something small to keep someone from posting something unwanted want while I'm away.

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Solution #1: allow use of smaller password
Written by theQxQ the 26 Oct 12 at 17:04.
after the first few minuets of locking the screen, allow the use of a smaller password. the average person won't be able to figure out the smaller password in the first couple of minuets after the screen is locked. and to prevent the guess and check method, you will have to use the longer password if the smaller one is miss guessed the first few times.

of coarse something like this shouldn't be enable by default, and maybe shouldn't even be in the normal settings, but an advance settings page, or different settings program. it is confusing to have to remember two different passwords.
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Solution #2: facial reconization
Written by theQxQ the 26 Oct 12 at 17:07.
allow an option to do facial reconization. an becaue facial reconization can be unreliable, allow the option to only allow facial reconizaion untill a few minuets after locking the screen.
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Solution #3: use a "draw to unlock" password.
Written by theQxQ the 26 Oct 12 at 17:14.
allow the option to draw lines from one point to the next to unlock the screen. this can be very secure and much faster then normal passwords. this can also be very secure. if you specify that your mouse has to get to a certain point in a screen before, or after some point in time since you were at a previose point, your password could become very secure.
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Solution #4: use key-down and key-up events when typing a password.
Written by theQxQ the 26 Oct 12 at 17:21.
when you hold shift while pushing a letter, you get a capital letter, making your password a lot stronger. what if you could hold any key while making your password. it would be unbreakable. so a password would be something like this.
(p-down, a-down, p-up, s-down, s-up, s-down, s-up, a-up, w-down, o-down, r-down, d-down, r-up, d-up, o-up, w-up)
this would be just as quick as typin in your password, but thousand times more secure. so people can make a smaller password, with less worry about hacking. (this technocly makes a normal password stored twice as long, which make tons more possible password). it also makes it harder for someone looking over your sholder to figure out what you are typing in.
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Solution #5: #1 and add the relevant security warning
Written by Ssdg the 6 Nov 12 at 08:59.
Problem: I gave my sister my Android phone locked with a pattern, she looked at the screen and unlocked it with no hint from me. Why? because the pattern is often visible on the screen because of the trace your fingers leave.

As it is obviously a feature lots of people want, it seams important to tell them its protection is weak (at best)
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Solution #6: Add an "Alternative Login Options" configuation dialog.
Written by linuxlalala the 17 Nov 12 at 06:24.
Cannonical can add a dialog which lets users configure how they want to log in. An example mockup (license CC-BY-NC-SA) can be found at http://i.minus.com/iEalX8rXItStK.png .

Propose your solution

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Comments
Darwin Survivor (Brainstorm moderator) wrote on the 27 Oct 12 at 11:20
Would solution #4 be applied to the normal password? If so, how would this cope with non-presence logins (ex: SSH, saved passwords, remote desktop, etc)?

cheesehead (Brainstorm admin) wrote on the 27 Oct 12 at 13:48
Solutions that increase convenience by merely compromising security (like Solutions #1 and #2) are not considered useful.

Unlocking is handled by PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules). Any new solution will need to be written as a PAM.

For example, there are already PAM modules for bluetooth devices, smart cards, USB keys, and many more methods.

Take a look at the libpam-* packages, and see what you think is missing, and what is realistic to add.

The particular use case in the Rationale - which I read as "simplifying unlock without compromising security" is already handled (for bluetooth-enabled-phone users) by the blueproximity package...which uses the bluetooth PAM module.

th3pr0ph3t wrote on the 31 Oct 12 at 23:59
I didn't know there was a way to lock/unlock your computer when your phone is nearby, as cheesehead commented. If the thing is already there the world needs to know. That's a very useful and innovative thing - more than one will be impressed.

Darwin Survivor (Brainstorm moderator) wrote on the 2 Nov 12 at 22:15
@th3pr0ph3t There are many,many,MANY really cool things you can do with Ubuntu. To show them all to a user would just overwhelm them. If you have a suggestion on a way for users to discover these cool things, please let us know. Currently one of the easiest ways is by searching for "Ubuntu" in youtube and watching the demos.

cheesehead (Brainstorm admin) wrote on the 4 Nov 12 at 01:57
Solution #2 (facial recognition) is in progress as a PAM, too. See http://benjaminkerensa.com/2012/11/01/foss-spotlight-pam-face-authentication

PaddyLandau wrote on the 6 Nov 12 at 12:15
Solution #1: Windows 8 allows the use of a four-digit PIN. I think, in this specific case, it could be a good idea. However, it would have to be an option that is off by default, because (as already stated) it is insecure. Turning on the option should display a warning about insecurity.


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