I just returned from a hearty breakfast on the 22nd floor of my hotel, overlooking Frankfurt. Great hotel, great views! I was flipping through the pages of the ISSA journal. I haven’t really posted any article reviews in a long time. I got too frustrated, I guess. There is this article, I just can’t resist but making two quick comments. The article was posted in the January 2007 issue and is about managing passwords. The first thing that hit me is that this author actually gives us two email addresses in the “About the Author” box. Why would I need two addresses? Isn’t one enough? Anyways. Sorry. What I was really confused about is that the author talks, in the very first paragraph, about:

“I cannot wait for the day when my PC offers two-factor authentication. -snip- I can’t begin to quantify the convenience that will come from having to convince just my PC that I am who I say I am, and then letting it handle the task of convincing the myriad financial institutions, -snip- that I am who I say I am.”

Wow. Maybe the author should read up on two-factor authentication and the topic of single sign on. They are not the same. And believe me, two-factor authentication is not going to ease your life! It’s one more form of authentication. How can that be easier than two? But again. Single Sign On is not two-factor authentication. It’s a fairly big step between two-factor authentication and single sign on! And I am  not sure whether I really want that. Topic attack surface!