full-disclosure - Clear text password exposure in Datakey's tokens and smartcards

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From: lionel.ferette at belnet.be (Lionel Ferette)
Subject: Clear text password exposure in Datakey's tokens and smartcards

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Hello,

In the wise words of vuln@...view.com, on Wednesday 04 August 2004 07:08:
> Clear text password exposure in Datakey's tokens and smartcards
[SNIP]

> Cause and Effect:
> =================
> The communication channel between the token and the driver is not
> encrypted. User's PIN can be retrieved using proxy driver or hardware
> sniffer.
Note that this is true for almost all card readers on the market, not only for 
Datakey's. Having worked for companies using crypto smart cards, I have 
conducted a few risk analysis about that. The conclusion has always been that 
if the PIN must be entered from a PC, and the attacker has means to install 
software on the system (through directed viruses, social engineering, etc), 
the game's over.

The only solution against that problem is to have the PIN entered using a 
keypad on the reader. Only then does the cost of an attack raise 
significantly. But that is opening another can of worms, because there is 
(was?) no standard for card readers with attached pin pad (at the time, 
PC/SCv2 wasn't finalised - is it?).

[SNIP]

Cheers,

Lionel

- -- 
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

Lionel Ferette
BELNET CERT Coordinator

Rue de la Science 4                 Tel: +32 2 7903385
1000 Brussels                       Fax: +32 2 7903375
Belgium                             PGP Key Id: 0x5662FD4B
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