NearBT
A pluggable authentication module (PAM) on OS X for local authentication with iOS devices (NearBT installed) via Bluetooth LE.
With NearBT, you can,
- Unlock OS X screen saver without typing password (just type return). No need to store your password.
- Add an extra authentication to log in OS X in addition to password. It works like two-factor authentication.
- Also works on authentication dialogs when you make changes on some preferences, and
sudo command in Terminal.
Features
Security
- OS X passwords are not saved somewhere regardless of whether passwords are encrypted.
- iOS device identifiers are used in Bluetooth connections.
- Bluetooth pairing is required.
- Time-based One-time Password Algorithm (TOTP) is used to authenticate.
- Open source for both OS X and iOS.
Energy
- Only create a connection when an authentication starts. Stop the connection once the authentication finishes.
- Thanks to Bluetooth Low Energy, it's about 1% in 7 days from iOS's battery usage report.
Customization
- Minimum RSSI (received signal strength indicator). Higher values reduce the valid scope of iOS devices.
- Run scripts when authentication begins or if authentication succeeds or fails.
Run pam_nearbt-setup parameters for more details.
Compatibility
- OS X (>= 10.10)
- iOS (>= 9)
- MacBook (>= 2015)
- MacBook Air (>= 2011)
- MacBook Pro (>= 2012)
- Mac Mini (>= 2011)
- Mac Pro (>= 2013)
- iMac (>= 2012)
- iPhone (>= 4S)
- iPad (>= 4th gen)
- iPad mini
- iPad Air
- iPod Touch (>= 5th gen)
It contains,
- An iOS app --
NearBT
- A pluggable authentication module (PAM) on OS X --
pam_nearbt.so
- A command line setup tool --
pam_nearbt-setup
Uninstallation
Know how to uninstall it before installation.
Remove related configuration lines in /etc/pam.d/ before uninstallation.
-
Remove installed files.
sudo rm /usr/local/lib/security/pam_nearbt.so
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/pam_nearbt-setup
-
If you want to remove all configuration files,
rm ~/.config/pam_nearbt/peripheral
rm ~/.config/pam_nearbt/secret
sudo rm /usr/local/etc/pam_nearbt/peripheral
sudo rm /usr/local/etc/pam_nearbt/secret
If you have set other secret path in the PAM's parameters, remember to remove it.
Installation
- Download NearBT-iOS-version.zip and pam_nearbt-signed-version.pkg from latest release
- Extract NearBT-iOS-version.zip and open
NearBT.xcodeproj in Xcode, build and run NearBT on your iOS devices.
- Open
pam_nearbt-signed-version.pkg and complete the installation.
- Open Terminal, run
pam_nearbt-setup and follow the instructions.
- For available PAM parameters, run
pam_nearbt-setup parameters.
Alternatives
iOS and OS X
Other