LMTRA@SRI-KL.ARPA (08/12/85)
Perhaps this is a stupid question, but has ADAPSO considered that under upcoming and existing multi-tasking and environments for the PC, several programs may be active (or at least loaded) at once? Does this meen lots of repeated key inserts or is the key checked only at initial load? In the latter case, if the OS swaps out to disk, I think It is conceivable for someone to be able to force swaps of all keyed software, shut down and restart from the saved situation without needing the keys on that machine subsequently. Am I uninformed as to the details or missing something? Leon Traister (Lmtra@SRI-KL.ARPA) -------
slerner@sesame.UUCP (Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner) (08/20/85)
> > > Perhaps this is a stupid question, but has ADAPSO considered that > under upcoming and existing multi-tasking and environments for the PC, > several programs may be active (or at least loaded) at once? Does this > meen lots of repeated key inserts or is the key checked only at > initial load? In the latter case, if the OS swaps out to disk, I > think It is conceivable for someone to be able to force swaps of all > keyed software, shut down and restart from the saved situation without > needing the keys on that machine subsequently. > > Am I uninformed as to the details or missing something? > > Leon Traister > (Lmtra@SRI-KL.ARPA) > ------- No, you didn't miss anything (yet) :-) The ADAPSO SAS (key/keyring system) is designed with multi-tasking in mind. In particular, when multiple tasks attempt to validate 'simultaneously', the system handles it graciously, without crashing anyone. Your point of forced swapping defeating the system: Even under current versions of DOS a memory snapshot deamon could defeat almost anyone. However, one advantage of a non-intrusive transparent method of validation is that you can check repeatedly, so that a restored image would only run for a short period of time before dying (hopefully dying gracefully with data saved to disk - just in case a key just died) keyrings come in different sizes, from cheap 1 slot units that will be given away with some software, to 50 slot industrial strength keyrings with built in modems and print buffers. It is possible to get a unit large enough to hold all your keys simultaneously without any key swapping. (You also can add an cheap expansion unit to your existing key ring when you do need more slots) Feel free to mail me if you have any more questions. -- Opinions expressed are public domain, and do not belong to Lotus Development Corp. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner {genrad|ihnp4|ima}!wjh12!talcott!sesame!slerner {cbosgd|harvard}!talcott!sesame!slerner slerner%sesame@harvard.ARPA