Re: IMPROVING PASSORD SECURITY ON COMPUTER SYSTEMS

n1pop_at_hotmail.com
Date: 09/16/03 

Date: 16 Sep 2003 14:13:56 -0700

mivemu@yahoo.com.br (Miguel) wrote in message news:<4c259038.0309160355.6e3a277d@posting.google.com>...
> Imagine Alice getting money from ATM machine. After entering account
> number, the machine would show a little board (like this one) to enter
> password:
>
> (image)

Imagine Alice is blind and can only use braille to read the buttons.

Imagine Alice is colorblind and cannot tell green from blue.

Imagine Alice can see, but she drives up to find the image faded or
obscured by the afternoon sun.

Imagine the programmer who must code those ATMs, which cannot
presently do what you ask with the level of detail required. Or so my
ATM programmer co-worker tells me.

Imagine the financial institution that must upgrade their ATMs (some
are many years old, the rest are extremely expensive). Think in terms
of ATM fees that will increase to pay for these new ATMs.

You have a good idea, I like the concept. But asking users to jump
through more hoops than they currently do may be too much.
VerifiedByVisa, the new transaction protection program, requires that
cardholders not only swipe their card and sign the charge slip, but
they must now enter a password or perform some other (read additional)
authentication step to complete their purchase. While some
cardholders may appreciate the added security it represents, others
will reject it because of the extra hassle. And using a visual acuity
system will alienate those who have vision problems (I can work an ATM
without my glasses, can I work one with graphics?).