Peter proposed this login by IP as a core feature. As many people told him, it is a bad idea. Just a summary of the top reasons:
- You can never log out because it will log you in as soon as you log out
- The IP address can be spoofed trivially by a real hacker (I could tell you if you are interested, but NOT in a public ticket)
- Logging in by IP address is a zero factor authentication method, meaning that it sidesteps the username, the password and your two factor authentication code. This makes it extremely prone to cross site request and side channel attacks. Simply put, if anyone can get you to hit a URL on a server they have access to from your computer they can spoof the IP to automatically log in as you and they they own your site.
So, let me put on my best Dirty Harry voice and say "I know what you're thinking. Did he log my IP address just now, or did he not? Well, to tell you the truth I kinda lost track myself. But this is a login plugin based on IP, the easiest thing to be spoofed and will log me in as a Super User to your very own site's administrator area. You've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?" Please, don't tell me that you need to know ;) Context: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xjr2hnOHiM#t=107
Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos
Lead Developer and Director
🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!