ATALLA(8)

NAME
atalla - initializing a challenge box

DESCRIPTION
It is easiest to initialize an Atalla (a.k.a. SNK) box at the same time you use the -c option of pwx, before you hand it to the user, not in the user's presence. To initialize the box: freak it out by giving five consecutive wrong PIN entries, for example by pushing the sequence ON 0 ENTER five times. The box's display should now read ES0 ----, you push 1 ENTER. The display now reads ES1 ----, you now enter eight bytes of secret key, which you may ask pwx to invent, and which the user will not know. Each byte is represented by three octal digits, in the range 000 through 277, so it takes 24 key strokes to enter the secret key. Now push ENTER, and a check sum of form C xxxxxxxx is displayed. Push ENTER again and another check sum is displayed, this time of form F xxxxxxxx. Push ENTER yet again and the display reads EP1 ----. At this point the box may be handed to the user. The user enters a personal password (his ``PIN'') of 4 through 8 digits' length, followed by ENTER, and again, as a check. Thereafter the user must type his personal password whenever he uses the box. Instruct the user not to divulge his personal password, and promise the user you will not divulge his secret key.

SEE ALSO
passwd(1)