[6079] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: a smartcard of a different color
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven M. Bellovin)
Wed Nov 17 10:34:40 1999
From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@research.att.com>
To: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
Cc: Digital Bearer Settlement List <dbs@philodox.com>, cryptography@c2.net
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Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 10:02:18 -0500
Message-Id: <19991117150223.96B1541F16@SIGABA.research.att.com>
In message <v04220814b457e31782c9@[204.167.101.35]>, Robert Hettinga writes:
>
> --- begin forwarded text
>
>
> To: mac-crypto@vmeng.com
> Subject: a smartcard of a different color
> Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 22:15:07 -0500
> From: Dan Geer <geer@world.std.com>
> Sender: <mac-crypto@vmeng.com>
>
>
>
> Yesterday I saw a smartcard of a different color. In particular,
> it is the smartcard chip but in a key-ring thing that is more or
> less identical to the Mobil SpeedPass except that it has a USB
> connector on one end and a keyring hole on the other. Total length
> circa 1.25"; color purple; maker Rainbow Technologies. As my pal
> Peter Honeyman said in showing it to me, "There are already all
> the USB ports we'll ever need." I'd point out that without the
> 7816 requirement for flex a whole lot more memory is a trivial
> add-on and that USB is not a bandwidth bottleneck.
>
> --dan
>
> ref: http://www.rainbow.com/ikey/graphics/iKey_DS.pdf
Folks I've talked to about products like that say that USB ports aren't
designed for that many insertion/removal cycles. (We'll ignore, for now, all
of the PCs that have their USB ports in the back, where you can't get at
them easily. One could always add on a hub.)
--Steve Bellovin
