...A password is a secret word or string of characters that is used for authentication, to prove identity or gain access to a resource (example: an access code is a type of password). The password should be kept secret from those not allowed access. The use of passwords is known to be ancient. Sentries would challenge those wishing to enter an area or approaching it to supply a password or watchword. Sentries would only allow a person or group to pass if they knew the password. In modern times, user names and passwords are commonly used by people during a log in process that controls access to protected computer operating systems, mobile phones, cable TV decoders, automated teller machines (ATMs), etc. A typical computer user may require passwords for many purposes: logging in to computer accounts, retrieving e-mail from servers, accessing programs, databases, networks, web sites, and even reading the morning newspaper online. Despite the name, there is no need for passwords to be actual words; indeed passwords which are not actual words may be harder to guess, a desirable property. Some passwords are formed from multiple words and may more accurately be called a passphrase. The term passcode is sometimes used when the secret information is purely numeric, such as the personal identification number (PIN) commonly used for ATM access. Passwords are generally short enough to be easily memorized and typed. Authentication by password is less secure than authentication which uses cryptographic...
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...[pic] Password Security And Other Effective Authentication Methods [pic] Table of Contents Introduction 1 User Accounts 1 Account and Password Policy 2 Password Attacks 4 Authentication Methods and Password Management 5 Public Key Infrastructure 6 Single Sign-On (SSO) 6 One-Time Password (OTP) Tokens 7 Biometrics 7 Fingerprints 7 Face Scans 7 Retina Scans 7 Iris Scans 7 Palm Scans 8 Hand Geometry 8 Heart Patterns 8 Voice Pattern Recognition 8 Signature Dynamics 8 Keystroke Patterns 8 Password Managers 8 Conclusion 9 Bibliography 10 Introduction Human beings are arguably the weakest link in computer and information security. People pose such a significant threat to their own computer networks and personal information simply because they don’t keep password security in the forefront of their mind. This is one of the reasons passwords are considered a poor security mechanism. Still, passwords are the most common method for user authentication on computer systems and websites. Passwords are so easily hacked and used to steal personal information such as bank account credentials, credit card numbers, etcetera, contributing to the significant growth of identity theft, most of which could be prevented by using strong passwords and not writing them down. End user education on more secure authentication methods such as strong password creations and two factor authentication can help to improve cyber security for...
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...Series. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/administrative/securityrule/adminsafeguards.pdf Retrieved on March 8, 2014Task 1Heart Healthy Information Security Policy:The information security policy is divided into two major parts – the policy for any new user entering the organization and the password management:New Users:All the new users will get appropriate access and rights, which will be reflective of their responsibilities in the organization. These accesses will enable the user to access all the required data files and information to complete their tasks. While assigning the rights and accesses to the new user a a document should be signed between the new user and the supervisor which will detail all the roles and responsibilities that the user will perform and also the corresponding access and rights. In case the user requires any administrator access then signature of the respective manager will be required. All the new users will have to undergo an orientation program and some additional training which will tell them about the work place, work culture, security policies, information security policies etc. The additional trainings will focus on password management, remote device protection, file downloads, content management (how to manage the file transfers over open networks, especially for electronics health records) and importance of various access levels in the organization and email usage. The awareness program is compulsory for all the new users and...
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...Definition of 3D password Users nowadays are provided with major password stereotypes such as textual passwords, biometric scanning, tokens or cards (such as an ATM) etc .Mostly textual passwords follow an encryption algorithm as mentioned above. Biometric scanning is your "natural" signature and Cards or Tokens prove your validity. But some people hate the fact to carry around their cards, some refuse to undergo strong IR exposure to their retinas(Biometric scanning).Mostly textual passwords, nowadays, are kept very simple say a word from the dictionary or their pet names, girlfriends etc. Years back Klein performed such tests and he could crack 10-15 passwords per day. Now with the technology change, fast processors and many tools on the Internet this has become a Child's Play. Introduction of 3D password Therefore we present our idea, the 3D passwords which are more customizable and very interesting way of authentication. Now the passwords are based on the fact of Human memory. Generally simple passwords are set so as to quickly recall them. The human memory, in our scheme has to undergo the facts of Recognition, Recalling, Biometrics or Token based authentication. Once implemented and you log in to a secure site, the 3D password GUI opens up. This is an additional textual password which the user can simply put. Once he goes through the first authentication, a 3D virtual room will open on the screen. In our case, let's say a virtual garage The 3D password is a multi factor...
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...Password Strength is not Password Security Kevin Marino November 11, 2013 MSCC697, Regis University Professor Garcia Password Strength is not Password Security When password security becomes the topic of conversation it generally focuses on how strong a password is and whether or not the user reuses a password across multiple sites. While these aspects can affect password security, there are certain measures that the server side of the authentication process can implement to increase security without the user changing their habits. This approach would solve many of the security problems that authentication servers are facing. The goal of this study is to determine a set of best practices that can be implemented to increase security without the intervention of the user. While passwords may not be around forever, due to the introduction of new authentication hardware, they will be around until one of these hardware become mainstream and readily available to the general public. These practices will offer greater security until that time comes. User authentication in today's world generally requires a user name and a password. Though the strength of the user's password is generally seen as the base line for security, the authenticating server can implement certain security measures that can compensate for weak passwords. One main factor for considering different security measures is the advancement of brute force attack techniques...
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...Pass without a password My PasswordSafe has 53 entries right now. It all started when I started using mail some years back. As I spent more time online the number of passwords increased. Though I tried all solutions like PasswordSafe, Firefox Sync it is never enough and I end up clicking ‘Forgot Password’ once in a while. I started dreaming of a password less browsing experience. . Let’s first dissect the problem. What is a password – it is something which only the user and the service provider know. This is established in the first meeting and used during the subsequent meetings to establish the identity of the user. What if there is some other data which both the service provider and the user know but need not be established as such? Can we use this data for authentication? What will be the challenges? . Firstly can service providers record data which is inherently known to user be used for authentication? . Data generated by the users while using a service can be used to authenticate the user in most cases. This is already in use in a variety of ways. If one logs into Facebook from an IP geographically disparate from one’s normal location, Facebook step-up authenticates the user with questions about his/her friends. Another example is where phone banking asks you for the last two transactions to establish genuine callers Now there are challenges in this approach – if the data used for the authentication is publicly available to a larger set of users it can’t be...
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...Password Protection Policy Free Use Disclaimer: This policy was created by or for the SANS Institute for the Internet community. All or parts of this policy can be freely used for your organization. There is no prior approval required. If you would like to contribute a new policy or updated version of this policy, please send email to policy-resources@sans.org. Things to Consider: Please consult the Things to Consider FAQ for additional guidelines and suggestions for personalizing the SANS policies for your organization. Last Update Status: Updated June 2014 1. Overview Passwords are an important aspect of computer security. A poorly chosen password may result in unauthorized access and/or exploitation of <Company Name>'s resources. All users, including contractors and vendors with access to <Company Name> systems, are responsible for taking the appropriate steps, as outlined below, to select and secure their passwords. 2. Purpose The purpose of this policy is to establish a standard for creation of strong passwords, the protection of those passwords, and the frequency of change. 3. Scope The scope of this policy includes all personnel who have or are responsible for an account (or any form of access that supports or requires a password) on any system that resides at any <Company Name> facility, has access to the <Company Name> network, or stores any non-public <Company Name> information. 4. Policy 4.1 Password...
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...board with the necessary changes as well as well as making it easy on them. Passwords are like passports or a blank check; if lost or stolen they give hackers a world of opportunity by providing access to your personal, financial and work data. The company wide Password Policy helps you be proactive in selecting a strong password and managing them, to protect your identity and company resources. Once you've read and understood the password policy, you should change your password and other passwords that do not meet the standards. Strong Password Characteristics * Are at least eight alphanumeric characters long * Contain at least three of the following four categories: * upper case characters (e.g., A-Z) * lower case characters (e.g., a-z) (Note: Oracle does not distinguish between upper and lower case in passwords.) * Digits (e.g., 0-9) * Special characters ( e.g., !@#$%^&*()_+|~-=\`{}[]:";'<>?,./) (Note: Oracle allows only the special character underscore (_) in a password, unless the password is enclosed in quotes.) * Are kept private. Passwords should be memorized or, if written down, kept in a locked file cabinet or other secure location. * Do not contain a common proper name, login ID, email address, initials, first, middle or last name Weak Password Characteristics * The password contains less than eight characters * The password is a word found in a dictionary (English or foreign) or a word in any language...
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...SECURED AUTHENTICATION: 3D PASSWORD INTRODUCTION: Users nowadays are provided with major password stereotypes such as textual passwords, biometric scanning, tokens or cards (such as an ATM) etc. Current authentication systems suffer from many weaknesses. Textual passwords are commonly used; however, users do not follow their requirements. Users tend to choose meaningful words from dictionary or their pet names, girlfriends etc. Ten years back Klein performed such tests and he could crack 10-15 passwords per day. On the other hand, if a password is hard to guess, then it is often hard to remember. Users have difficulty remembering a password that is long and random appearing. So, they create short, simple, and insecure passwords that are susceptible to attack. Which make textual passwords easy to break and vulnerable to dictionary or brute force attacks. Graphical passwords schemes have been proposed. The strength of graphical passwords comes from the fact that users can recall and recognize pictures more than words. Most graphical passwords are vulnerable for shoulder surfing attacks, where an attacker can observe or record the legitimate user’s graphical password by camera. Token based systems such as ATMs are widely applied in banking systems and in laboratories entrances as a mean of authentication. However, Smart cards or tokens are vulnerable to loss or theft. Moreover, the user has to carry the token whenever access required. Biometric scanning...
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...Guidelines for changing and protecting Password for Indian Judiciary A. Guidelines for changing the password: 1. Minimum password length must be 8 characters. 2. It must contain a mixture of alpha, numeric & special characters. 3. Combination of uppercase and lowercase alphabets must be used. 4. At least one (or more) special character (e.g. @,#,$,%) is required in the password. 5. Any common sequences from a keyboard row: qwerty, 12345, asdfgh are not allowed. 6. The password or any part of it should not be a dictionary word. 7. Old passwords are not allowed to be used again. B. Password Protection Measures: 1. Default Password that is conveyed with the email account details must be changed immediately on the first login itself. 2. Information that can be easily guessed or obtained about the email account holder should not be a part of the password. This includes user's own name, spouse's name, vehicle license plate number, telephone number, D.O.B., PAN number, the brand of his/her automobile, the number of street of home/office address etc. 3. The password should not be shared with anyone. Password is to be treated as sensitive confidential information. 4. The password should not be revealed in email, chat, any other electronic communication. 5. Users should always decline the use of the “Remember Password" feature of any browser or other applications. 6. If email account or password compromise is suspected, this should...
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...A reasonable approach for an AD password policy, this will a be determined by how, & what your ideas are and what your trying to accomplish. I know that you’d mention that a competitor has recently been hack into and security is the number one thing that should be addressed. But putting too many limitations on yourself and your employee might hinder production or have conflicts within the company. Let’s be honest, passwords are annoying. These days we need a password or PIN’S everywhere for security and protect with a peace of mind. Now days we have so many that we can’t even keep track of them all, I myself have this issue. Here is some issue that might be well in doubt with you and your company. We forget to update them; it’s difficult to come up with effective ones that we can still remember, so we procrastinate changing them for months, even years. We all know that this is bad practice, but the alternative along with the painful, irritating password creation and memorization process, is sometimes more than we can tolerate. Password is simpler and cheaper than others, more secure forms of authentication like special key cards, fingerprint ID machines, and retinal scanners. While passwords are becoming more and more vital component of system security, and with that they can be cracked or broken relatively easily. Password cracking is the process of figuring out or breaking passwords in order to gain unauthorized entrance to a system or accounts. The difference between...
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...Unit 7 Assignment 1 AD Password Policy Planning TO: Client I can understand you’re concerned with your company’s security after all information on competitors can be invaluable or very harmful to a company and this is why it must be protected from prying eyes. This does not have to mean that you have to lose productivity over trying to secure your networks information. Simple measure like user names and passwords can be used to protect less sensitive information however how strong you make those usernames and passwords can have a great effect on how well your information is protected. I’m going to give you some tips on how to better secure your network with the tools that you already have at hand, keep in mind that you can also buy better security items to better protect you network things like; smart card, finger print scanners, retinal scanners, etc. but I only recommend these for really sensitive information and only for certain users in your company. On the server that is the DC log in to the administrator account and in the “Active Directory Users and Computers” in the Domain icon in the left pane click on the “Users” icon, you’ll be able to see all of the users in that domain. From here you can click on any user and make changes as necessary, for user names I recommend you use the following format; using capital and lower case letters the first letter of their name, their whole last name and their employee number, ex. “JVentura10415867@Domain*%$.Local” if someone...
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...reside, _or_ name of file, relative to the # home directory. If you _do_ define both, MAIL_DIR takes precedence. # QMAIL_DIR is for Qmail # #QMAIL_DIR Maildir MAIL_DIR /var/spool/mail #MAIL_FILE .mail # Password aging controls: # # PASS_MAX_DAYS 60 Maximum number of days a password may be used. # PASS_MIN_DAYS 0 Minimum number of days allowed between password changes. # PASS_MIN_LEN 8 Minimum acceptable password length. # PASS_WARN_AGE 14 Number of days warning given before a password expires. -- INSERT [student@centos ~]$ su-c 'vi /etc/login.defs' bash: su-c: command not found [student@centos ~]$ su -c 'vi/etc/login.defs' Password: bash: vi/etc/login.defs: No such file or directory [student@centos ~]$ su -c 'vi /etc/login.defs' Password: [student@centos ~]$ su -c '/usr/sbin/useradd dbadmin1' Password: [student@centos ~]$ su -c '/usr/sbin/useradd dbadmin2 > su -c '/usr/sbin/useradd dbadmin2' > > > > > su -c '/usr/sbin/useradd dbadmin2' > su -c '/usr/sbin/useradd dbadmin2 su -c '/usr/sbin/useradd dbadmin2' su -c '/usr/sbin/useradd dbadmin2' su: user dbadmin2 su -c /usr/sbin/useradd does not exist Password: Password: useradd: user 'dbadmin2' already exists [student@centos ~]$ su -c '/usr/sbin/useradd webadmin1'...
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...the password at all. WhatIs at TechTarget.com posted that NIST recommends the following minimum guidelines for password creation (Rouse, M. and Haughn, M., 2014): • Use a minimum of 8 characters selected from a 94-character set. • Include at least one upper case letter, one lower case letter, one number and one special character. • Use a dictionary of common words that user should avoid. • Don’t use any permutation of your username as your password. That being said some sites or systems are still allowing users to create passwords such as “123456”, “password”, and “12345678” according to SplashData’s annual worst password list (SplashData, 2014). The advances in software setup and checking should prevent a user from ever creating a password so simple. The issues stem from a couple of problems. One is not educating users more on the concept of complex password creation. Two not all administrators of systems...
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...Running Head: Lab Assignment: Password Cracking Using Cain and Abel Lab Assignment 1: Password Cracking Using Cain University of Maryland University College Fall 2015 Lab Report Provided below is a table of the different generated user accounts and their accompanied passwords, along with the methodology used to crack each and either the time it took to reveal the password or estimated time provided by Cain and Abel to generate a successful solution. NTLM HASH | | Brute Force | Dictionary Attack | User 1 | No result, due to estimated time > 4yrs | Password cracked in < 1min | UUser 2 | No result, due to estimated time > 4yrs | Password cracked in < 1min | UUser 3 | No result, due to estimated time > 4yrs | No result. Estimated Time > 3hrs. | Table1: NTLM password cracking results LM HASH | | Brute Force | Dictionary Attack | User 1 | Password cracked in < 3min | Password cracked in < 2 min | User 2 | Password cracked in < 3min | Password cracked in < 1min | User 3 | No result, estimated time >3hrs | No result, I stopped it after 5 min. | Table2: LM password cracking results 1. Explain the two different types of attacks that can be performed in Cain and Abel to crack user account passwords. Which do you think is the most effective and why? A dictionary attack uses a file containing words, phrases, common passwords, and other strings that are likely to be used as a password. Each word in the file is...
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