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Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

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Re: Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

#61

Post by robotmay »

escapologybb wrote: post #57
willvarfar wrote: post #48

When I messed with army radios - these being the made-by-the-lowest-bidder-and-not-secret analogue variety - they were throat-operated. You spoke silently, and the microphone - pressed to your throat - sent speech over the radio. It took practice to talk perfectly clearly, but it could be mastered. Google "throat microphone".

If I had one of them, I would totally be able to pretend I'm in the SAS on some secret mission!:D Obviously a mission that didn't involve any stairs, and nothing above 6 miles an hour (top speed of my chair!) With lots of ramps and extrawide doors :-) Seriously though, I'm connected to this computer with a ton of cables and if that could be made to play nice with Dragon, and it wasn't too tight across where the break…

If you're in the UK they can be picked up pretty cheaply from surplus stores, and no doubt online too. There must be some consumer-grade ones knocking about too which might be worth a shot if you're not sure if it'll work or not :)

Re: Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

#62

Post by TylerE »

almost wrote: post #52
TylerE wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just punting. How does he login to the secure VM?

He can type things using dictation and that would presumably let him log into the VM, his problem is that the dictation won't work for the OSX lock screen. The idea probably has some other practical problems though.

I don't see how that would make it harder. Audio surfing is easier than should surfing. Wonder if he could somehow get his one-button clicker to translate morse code into ascii. Then he really could log in in a fairly secure way.

Re: Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

#63

Post by gohrt »

escapologybb wrote: post #38
mikeash wrote: post #32

How about bluetooth-based locking and unlocking, using an app like this? https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bluetooth-unlock/id576603568... It looks like it may work with any BT device, so even if you don't have a BT-enabled phone, you could get a cheap BT headset or something, and keep it on you. I'd also like to say that it's great to see you doing so well with technology. I had a quadriplegic friend when I was little…

My only issue with Bluetooth pairing is that iPhones are incredibly shiny, and carers work for minimum wage and the thought of not only my iPhone going walkies but it locking my laptop in the process… My head might actually explode :-)

Perhaps you should pay your carers better, so you can hire quality people....

You can also get a proximity alarm for your iPhone.

Re: Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

#64

Post by willvarfar »

escapologybb wrote: post #57
willvarfar wrote: post #48

When I messed with army radios - these being the made-by-the-lowest-bidder-and-not-secret analogue variety - they were throat-operated. You spoke silently, and the microphone - pressed to your throat - sent speech over the radio. It took practice to talk perfectly clearly, but it could be mastered. Google "throat microphone".

If I had one of them, I would totally be able to pretend I'm in the SAS on some secret mission!:D Obviously a mission that didn't involve any stairs, and nothing above 6 miles an hour (top speed of my chair!) With lots of ramps and extrawide doors :-) Seriously though, I'm connected to this computer with a ton of cables and if that could be made to play nice with Dragon, and it wasn't too tight across where the break…

If you can't find one commercially, then its just to do an "ask HN" for anyone to help you acquire one or can make you one etc :)

Re: Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

#65

Post by superuser2 »

giberson wrote: post #16

Forgive the off the cuff suggestion here, it's the quickest and simplest thing I can think of though not an optimum way to use your laptop and you're probably hoping for a more elegant solution. What if you install virtual box w/ some free OS (like ubuntu). Store all your personal information within the virtual machine which is configured with a secure login. Then you can leave the laptop unsecured so you can use you…

The Ubuntu VM's virtual hard disk is right there for the taking, though.

Re: Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

#66

Post by andy_ppp »

gohrt wrote: post #63
escapologybb wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My only issue with Bluetooth pairing is that iPhones are incredibly shiny, and carers work for minimum wage and the thought of not only my iPhone going walkies but it locking my laptop in the process… My head might actually explode :-)

Perhaps you should pay your carers better, so you can hire quality people.... You can also get a proximity alarm for your iPhone.

> Perhaps you should pay your carers better, so you can hire quality people....

Easy to say things like that isn't it.

Re: Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

#67

Post by jnbiche »

DanBC wrote: post #15

Yubikey would work if you could mount it so that you can touch the touch-pad with your nose. I don't know if that's acceptable to you?

There is a Yubikey model that uses NFC called the NEO[1]. So it would operate simply by your being close to the computer. At the moment, the NFC only works with Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Blackberry, but it might be able to be ported easily. I'm looking into how this might help you now (Yubikey has an SDK).

You're on OSX, so let me see what I can come up with. No promises, but I'm looking.

1. http://www.yubico.com/products/yubikey-hardware/yubikey-neo/...

EDIT: I see that the Yubikey NEO is sold out for the next 5 weeks, so this may not be the best option for you.

EDIT2: The best solution was referenced by silverlight above, it's called TokenLock for Mac OSX, and it's $3 in the App Store. You can use it with bluetooth devices. Just get some little $20 bluetooth device or headphones you can pair it with, and have someone put it in your pocket. Please take a look here (again, thanks to poster silverlight above): http://www.map-pin.com/tokenlock-home/ Never used it, but it looks pretty versatile and can be used with all sorts of login approaches.

For securing your browser passwords, I think the Yubikey with the NFC chip will be your best bet. Right now, they don't have OSX software available specifically for the NFC, but I imagine they will release some eventually. I'd call and ask them.

Re: Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

#68

Post by ansible »

superuser2 wrote: post #65
giberson wrote: post #16

Forgive the off the cuff suggestion here, it's the quickest and simplest thing I can think of though not an optimum way to use your laptop and you're probably hoping for a more elegant solution. What if you install virtual box w/ some free OS (like ubuntu). Store all your personal information within the virtual machine which is configured with a secure login. Then you can leave the laptop unsecured so you can use you…

The Ubuntu VM's virtual hard disk is right there for the taking, though.

An encrypted home directory will help some with that.

Re: Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

#69

Post by nawitus »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #12
nawitus wrote: post #3

If you're not using whole disk encryption (or even partial encryption), then it doesn't really matter if you use a login password or not. The attacker can just clone the hard drive to gain access to your files.

The threat model was casual passers-by. That may not seem much but severe disabilities change things a lot. I am assuming that the OP is simply taking steps to mitigate an ever present fear of "being taken advantage of". There are some real arseholes out there, for example a friend of a friend was a blind dumb mute who was mugged in the street - nothing stolen except her cane and cards she used to communicate. She ha…

I interpreted the threat as a passer-by stealing the laptop and not giving it back.

Re: Ask HN: I'm quadriplegic – can you help me with my security?

#70

Post by ghswa »

superuser2 wrote: post #65
giberson wrote: post #16

Forgive the off the cuff suggestion here, it's the quickest and simplest thing I can think of though not an optimum way to use your laptop and you're probably hoping for a more elegant solution. What if you install virtual box w/ some free OS (like ubuntu). Store all your personal information within the virtual machine which is configured with a secure login. Then you can leave the laptop unsecured so you can use you…

The Ubuntu VM's virtual hard disk is right there for the taking, though.

At least the Ubuntu VM can be password protected and encrypted, unlike OS X in this scenario, or am I missing some other issue?

Using a VM as the "real" machine seems to be at least as effective as any other suggestion made here and far less brittle.

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