Long login delay

[Bob B. Funchess]

"Why does it take the system so long to realize that the login is incorrect?"

I haven't OFFICIALLY been told this, but I've been assuming that's not a bug,
it's a feature:  hacker programs designed to try to guess passwords can only
retry once every 5 seconds or so, since the delay is about that long.  We
actually hope this ISN'T fixed.  It seems a more reasonable method than the
"3-try limit" that some mainframes use, since waiting 20 or 30 seconds to get
your password right after 5 tries is better than waiting 5 minutes for the
system to let you try again after messing up 3 times.

It doesn't seem that the "problem" is related to the size of the passwd file,
since it recognizes a correct login instantaneously on a human timescale.


                             < Bob  S090726 at UMRVMA.UMR.EDU  Funchess >