I am not personally a fan of fingerprint readers on their own because often they can be subverted (see Dustin's comment) and because I generally don't like amputation-ware (I like all my parts where they are now, thanks). That said, someone else may have a really good reader and want to use it, and I'd have to agree with Roger that just because I, Dustin and other security professionals don't find them useful for passwords, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be supported, if those interested want to put in the work.
Combining a fingerprint reader with other authentication mechanisms can make things more secure. Eg, the fingerprint (something that uniquely identifies you), with a password (something you know) and a smart card/usbkey (something you have) would offer quite strong protection (not to mention rather severe usability issues). In this scenario an attacker needs to obtain three different tokens, which is likely more difficult than two and certainly more than just one. ** Changed in: ecryptfs-utils (Ubuntu) Status: Won't Fix => Confirmed -- add support for fingerprint readers in pam_ecryptfs https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/255799 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs