lkw@csun.edu (Larry Wake) (01/03/89)
In article <268@gloom.UUCP> cory@gloom.UUCP (Cory Kempf) writes: >In article <4498@xenna.Encore.COM> bzs@Encore.COM (Barry Shein) writes: >> >>Fun note but why do a password challenge when a retinal scan would >>have been more secure? (please, no disgusting remarks about how to fool >>a retinal scanner.) >> >Two reasons actually... first, I wasn't too sure about retinal >scans... the only place I have seen any refs. to them has been in SF >(haven't looked much though), so I didn't (and still don't) know how >practical they are for security. In a recent issue of either Time or Newsweek, there was an article on disaster recovery, which also touched on what companies are doing about *preventing* damage from disasters (what a novel concept). According to the article, American Airlines has built a new below-ground machine room for their Saabre mainframes. Access is through an airlock-type entrance controlled by both retina scan and a weight sensor, which I thought was a nice touch: if the weight in the room doesn't match what's in the records for that retinal image, you not only don't get let in, the outer door closes and locks. This should foil some of the "disgusting" ways to fool the scanner; it also follows that every time an AA employee goes to the lavatory it is now vitally important they get a receipt... (apologies to Douglas Adams) -- Larry Wake lkw@csun.edu CSUN Computer Center uucp: {hplabs,rdlvax}!csun!lkw Mail Drop CCAD BITnet: LKW@CALSTATE Northridge, CA 91330