Text 51650, 71 rader
Skriven 2008-12-01 23:31:06 av James Bradley (1:342/77.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Charles Scaglione
Ärende: Lost password
=====================
11-23-08 17:06: Charles Scaglione to Jean Parrot, "Lost password"

 CS> Jean Parrot -> Charles Scaglione wrote:

 CS>> I agree but Alan was pointing out that a Mac can easily be accessed by
 CS>> having an install DVD and resetting the master password.  That's not
 CS>> possible if a firmware password has been set - and thus my reply to

 JP>     Not the same PW at all. Jeff would say that friendly Google would
 JP> present you with all kinds of information. Try and get the ATA papers on
 JP> this option, it is well explained that it is in the HD and its logic
 JP> board, thus accessed on booting as it is seen by BIOS. If you do not
 JP> hurdle this fence, you get no booting.

 CS>> I'm not sure every notebook computer can be protected the same way.
 CS>> Setting a firmware password is not the same as setting a BIOS
 JP> password.
 CS>> A BIOS password can be gotten around, not true for a firmware
 JP> password.

JG was saying the drives in question have a shadow password system, where the
PW is encrypted before it hits the HD/non-volatile RAM. Now, the encryption key
is as hard to guess as the PW. This is what requires the HW solution I have
seen bantered about in the past few messages.

 JP>     Every notebook can be so protected. One with sleek fingers could
 JP> grab any notebook and could still use it by replacing the HD, seems to
 JP> me, but your data is protected. I am typing this with a doubt in my mind
 JP> as to the truth in my lines, I think that the BIOS also has a say in
 JP> this and if not mated with the PW protected HD, it will not run.

 CS> I don't think that's true.  The only notebook computer I've
 CS> ever run into where a firmware password could be set is
 CS> from Apple.  I believe you're thinking of a BIOS password.

Maybe, a EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM) in the Apple must
match the HD stored PW? I would expect there's a way to recover from a PROM
failure however. 

 CS> Once a firmware password is set in a Mac notebook you can't
 CS> swap the hard drive because you can not initialize the new
 CS> drive without the password.

A new drive, or a previously PWed one? I suspect, this might be a mundane and
easily crackable system. 

 JP>     This I will try and confirm, after all, the protection is done in
 JP> the BIOS page. Does this ensure the "marriage" of the HD as PW
 JP> protected, to the one machine ???

 CS> Remember, Mac portables do not use a BIOS.  As for your IBM
 CS> Thinkpads, you can certainly set a password in the BIOS but
 CS> all one has to do is clear the BIOS to remove the password.

Basic Input-Output System is just that. If there is no user settings to store,
doesn't mean it isn't there. On the PCs, we can often confuse the term, and
still be understood, but the difference is we PC users can write to the BIOS,
and Macs apparently can not. I read a long time ago, these EEPROMS are never
made out of CMOS (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technology, but
that's better left for another day. <G>

 CS>  Not hard at all.  You can't do that with firmware.

Steady Charles... Steady!!! [-|


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