first of all, it doesn't have to be mandatory. classic auth via user/pw entry could still co-exist.
multi-device auth is possible too: each device could generate a client cert. the authenticator would have to be able to link multiple certs to a user account.
If you can use a password to generate/link a new certificate, wouldn't that mean the weakest link is again the password? Sorry if I am misunderstanding, it's a very interesting topic but I'm not sure I get it :)
it depends on how it gets implemented. if you decide that classic user/pw auth should co-exist it is of course still the "weakest link". sharing certificates across devices is also possible. os-x mavericks supports this natively with the new icloud keychain. although that might not be what you want, security-wise.
There's an issue with switching between using a password and a certificate: the password will end up being forgotten. You can probably solve this with email resets, but it's worth thinking about.
Comments
first of all, it doesn't have to be mandatory. classic auth via user/pw entry could still co-exist.
multi-device auth is possible too: each device could generate a client cert. the authenticator would have to be able to link multiple certs to a user account.
If you can use a password to generate/link a new certificate, wouldn't that mean the weakest link is again the password? Sorry if I am misunderstanding, it's a very interesting topic but I'm not sure I get it :)
it depends on how it gets implemented. if you decide that classic user/pw auth should co-exist it is of course still the "weakest link". sharing certificates across devices is also possible. os-x mavericks supports this natively with the new icloud keychain. although that might not be what you want, security-wise.
There's an issue with switching between using a password and a certificate: the password will end up being forgotten. You can probably solve this with email resets, but it's worth thinking about.