Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

>I wonder if there would be an audience for an HTTP Basic Auth 2.0 spec.

Yes! I remember in the early aughts, IE6 would present this cool login screen [0] for (what I think, but may be remembering incorrectly) HTTP Basic Auth. I always wanted to do that, but didn't really understand anything other than making basic HTML pages.

It could help improve security. It's a ubiquitous login screen that makes it really obvious which domain is requesting credentials - no need to check if the page looks off to detect possible phishing. Oh and you wouldn't run in to the issue of accidentally logging in on the sign up page!

[0]: https://blog.stevensanderson.com/2008/08/25/using-the-browse...




I wouldn't bet on it improving security, personally.

If I was a hacker, I can use the User-Agent to know what OS they are using (or close enough). I also know what browser they are using.

I can use this information to create a custom webpage with a white background and similar imagery to look like the native browser form. If the user was unsuspecting, they might not realize it's not a separate window, and think that they were logging into the correct site.


“Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to log into this webpage.”

(/s, you just reminded me of the help text for the log in screen circa 2000/XP)




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: