TrueBeam Authentication
Imagine a pilot in the cockpit of a modern plane. He prepares for landing. He still has to fly a few turns, extend the landing gear, and align with the runway. Before flying a right turn, he has to authenticate. Otherwise, the fly-by-wire controls will not follow his commands. He enters username and password on the cockpit's keyboard. A few seconds later, he has to yaw slightly left. For this maneuver, he again has to authenticate. Suddenly, a hundred feet above ground, just before the plane is supposed to touch down, he runs into an unpleasant situation:
Incredible story?
While on a plane it would be unthinkable that the pilot has to authenticate every time before a routine flight maneuver, on the TrueBeam it's very much like that.
On the TrueBeam, credentials have to be entered over a hundred times a day, most of the time to confirm that the user is REALLY willing to perform what he plans to do, by approving his very actions.
The first authentication is upon starting Treatment software. Then the user has to authenticate when the Queue software is started.
During a session, various authentications have to be done: for machine overrides,
when couch shifts are to be applied,
and finally when the session is closed.