You work for a small city IT department and you have been ta

You work for a small city IT department, and you have been tasked by your supervisor with creating a method of implementing a new policy requiring management-level city employees to lock their computers whenever they are going to be away from their desks. Of the following, which is the most secure method of temporarily locking a PC while allowing computer users to quickly resume work once they’ve returned to their desks?

A. Use the lock desktop feature.

B. Log off the computer.

C. Use hardware authentication.

D. Set the screen saver to require a password

Solution

C. Hardware authentication is a method that can be used to replace the Windows username and password for authenticating and unlocking a computer desktop. This method uses a USB security key or token. The USB device containing the key must be plugged into the computer, and then the user must enter a PIN number. This two-step process tends to be more secure than a username or password, since even if an unauthorized person learns the PIN number, that person still can’t gain access to the computer without the USB device containing the security key.