This was originally posted on 2010-08-28 to http://andrewho.co.uk/weblog/securing-authentication-in-debain-with-opie
A lot of the software I use is run on a remote server, and as a consequence I often have a terminal connected to this server. Whilst most of time I log in through my own computer, it often comes up that I need to SSH in using an unknown computer (such as someone else's, or the university computing cluster). I needed to come up with a way that made it easy to get in whilst using my own (secure) computers, but provided an extra layer of security when using potentially insecure terminals. Enter OPIE.