Re: Smart card connection pgAdmin/PostgreSQL

2010/3/17 Jean-Michel Pouré - GOOZE <jmpoure(at)gooze(dot)eu>:
> Le mercredi 17 mars 2010 à 13:13 +0000, Dave Page a écrit :
>> I assume
>> it's possible to store an SSL private key on them for authentication
>> against a remote server?
>
> Yes, this is the basic feature.
>
> It is also possible to use the smartcard chip to make crypto operations,
> thus offering superior decryption/encryption security.
>
> At no moment, the private keys leave the key. Thus there is very little
> possibility to steal secrets. Even on a compromised computer, the
> secrets cannot be stolen. To connect, you need a smart card and the PIN
> code.
>
> Also, you may think of server-side data encryption, where tables are
> encrypted.
>
> In some companies, data are considered like the heart of the activity.
> In these business it may be valuable to use smart cards.

Cool - thanks. It's interesting tech, though whether I'll have time to
look into it myself at the moment isn't clear unfortunately.

--
Dave Page
EnterpriseDB UK: http://www.enterprisedb.com
PG East Conference: http://www.enterprisedb.com/community/nav-pg-east-2010.do