South Africa On Lockdown - Coronavirus - Update!

[beckman at angryox.com (Peter Beckman)]

Software-based TOTP offer more security than no one-time passwords, but
admittedly less than the physical tokens. Google Authenticator, Authy,
1Password, LastPass all support TOTP.

On Mon, 23 Mar 2020, Alexandre Petrescu wrote:

> I dont know where are people about supporting VPN and one-time passwords on 
> tokens.
>
> At my work place a few people dont have tokens (OTP - One Time PAsswords).  
> The reserve of these tokens has been exhausted.  NEw ones are being on 
> order.  Until then some people cant get on VPN.
>
> Some people forgot their token on their desk and had to to travel to office 
> to get it, a thing not good to do to go to office now.
>
> Some (not sure) might have issues with syncing these devices.  An OTP token 
> has a certain skew about clock, and a battery that lasts long. Hopefully, 
> one's token has been synchronised recently and the battery is new.  The 
> length of time one cant go to office might be anywhere between 21 days 
> (announced) and 2 months (experrience eg in Wuhan still closed).  Some times 
> the synching of clock can be performed remotely, and some 'coin' batteries 
> can be replaced by the person with skill and tools, could be extracted from a 
> quartz watch for example.
>
> An OTP device can be of many kinds.  Some people keep OTPs on paper (I did 
> some time ago).  Some OTP devices are like Japanese 'tamaguchi' format, 
> others like a credit card format.
>
> Alex, LF/HF 3
>
> Le 23/03/2020 à 20:47, Mark Tinka a écrit :
>> 
>> On 23/Mar/20 21:20, Peter Beckman wrote:
>> 
>>> But also:
>>>
>>>  Â Â Â  "The categories of people who will be exempted from this lockdown
>>>  Â Â Â Â  are... those involved in the production, distribution and supply
>>>  Â Â Â Â  of... telecommunications services"
>>>
>>>      https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/2020/03/23/breaking-nationwide-lockdown-announced-in-south-africa/
>>> 
>>> I think most anyone on this list could be considered exempt.
>>> 
>>> I do hope the same will be true should our respective local and national
>>> governments take similar action.
>> Yes, a number of "essential services" have been identified as needing to
>> continue to operate under special dispensation during the lockdown, and
>> telecoms falls within that.
>> 
>> The details of the implementation of the dispensation may be nuanced.
>> Experience will tell us more in the coming days.
>> 
>> Mark.
>

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Peter Beckman                                                  Internet Guy
beckman at angryox.com                                 http://www.angryox.com/
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