Dark Reading is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them.Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Database Security
Authentication
Mobile
Privacy
Compliance
Careers and People
Identity & Access Management
Security Monitoring
Advanced Threats
Insider Threats
Vulnerability Management
Comments
7 Tips To Toughen Passwords
Newest First  |  Oldest First  |  Threaded View
Page 1 / 2   >   >>
MikeT951
MikeT951,
 User Rank: Apprentice
10/17/2016 | 3:36:20 AM
Re: Best advice i've ever heard on passwords....
You also might want to use a random password generator such as this one bestpasswordgenerator That's the best way to create a secure and strong password.
Anne-MarieL355
Anne-MarieL355,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/7/2013 | 3:48:20 PM
Best advice i've ever heard on passwords....
Found very simple advice here.  This article says length beats complexity every time and is easier for you to remember: http://devnull1.blogspot.ca/2013/12/your-password-is-no-good.html 
jleon570
jleon570,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/18/2012 | 10:01:50 PM
re: 7 Tips To Toughen Passwords
It seems to me that the biggest problem is the lack of security at the account host (aka LinkedIn, Google, eHarmony, Wells Fargo, Amex, etc). Yes, it is a bad thing if stupid ol' me uses the same "12345" for all my accounts from my eTrade account to my luggage. BUT, when the hacker community gets MY password, they have only MY password. As much as any technophobe would poke fun at me for my individual lack of security, the top 5 executives at LinkedIn, eHarmony, Last.fm, et al, need to be a proportionally larger laughing stock (because they're proportionally more stupid). In the web code I've been writing for at least the last 10 years, salting passwords has been universal, and (sadly) none of my sites hold a candle to LinkedIn in terms of subscribers or tech resources.

The entire internet development community needs to create and be generally aware of password protection standards, and web sites need a way to show the users that the site operators know those standards and to which level of protection they aspire. That way, I could tell my readers to stay away from banking sites that don't comply with say, "at least Password Protection Standards level 4 or higher, and 5 or higher is even better." I tell my readers that if the web site can send your actual password by e-mail if you forgot it, then every employee and business partner of that company already has your password. That would be "Password Protection Standards Level 0". So that morons like those at LinkedIn might be better aware, Level 1 would be an unsalted one-way hash or use of a weak hashing function (like MD5). Level 2 requires salted hashes using an unbroken and at least 160-bit one-way hash function. Level 3 requires salted hashes with a minimum of 48-bit salt using an unbroken and at least 224-bit one-way hash. Level 4, 5, 6, who knows. Maybe there should be other hash function requirements like resistance to collision attacks or preimage attacks, etc. But this protection would define only how well the passwords are stored and is meaningful only in the event that the password list is stolen.

The should be other descriptions of how the site protects its users, like: password entry is only allowed over a secure connection, password change enforcement, password length and diversity enforcement.

My password in MY possession is MY responsibility. My password in YOUR possession is YOUR responsibility.
Mathew
Mathew,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/13/2012 | 10:00:01 AM
re: 7 Tips To Toughen Passwords
Rock Star, you're entirely correct that websites need to do a better job of protecting their passwords, and two-factor is a great idea. So is using password encryption algorithms, versus cryptographic algorithms such as MD5 that are now widely used. Unfortunately, there's no magic wand ... with luck, the LinkedIn (et al) breaches will lead more companies to proactively invest, to help avoid any damage to their reputation when/if their password database gets knocked over. But from a consumer/user standpoint, using stronger passwords will at least slow attackers down, and making sure they're unique will prevent hopscotch-style password cracking attempts.
Mathew
Mathew,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/13/2012 | 9:45:46 AM
re: 7 Tips To Toughen Passwords
Hi Osmore, thanks for your comment. If there could be any single piece of advice that this author would propose, it would be: Use a password manager. No, it won't protect you if a site gets its password database stolen and cracked. But it does give you a practical, affordable way to generate and manage unique, strong passwords for the over 100 websites you use. That way, if your LinkedIn password does get published, it's a one-off. Inconvenient, but no one will be able to use it to access your Gmail account.
moarsauce123
moarsauce123,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/11/2012 | 11:22:58 PM
re: 7 Tips To Toughen Passwords
Should do away with passwords altogether and use biometric access instead.
ANON1237925156805
ANON1237925156805,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/11/2012 | 9:02:57 PM
re: 7 Tips To Toughen Passwords
That's interesting because I was thinking of posting this very thing. It doesn't much matter how convoluted the algorithm you use to generate passwords: If they are 8 characters or fewer there's enough brute strength to hack them. It may take two days for yours as opposed to 1/2 hr for someone else's but the result is the same.

We need to move to passphrases. Passphrases needn't be unbearably cryptic as long as they are not trivial (e.g. "all cows eat grass" or "the password is swordfish"). One can string together words that are meaningful to them but not obvious to others.

Voila. It's memorized. To personalize for each site that has critical data, embed an abbreviation (not the full name) related to the site. For example, Facebook might have an fb in it or an ook. That's not risky in the context of a longer passphrase.

By all means punctuate your passphrase in an unpredictable way and/or throw in a cap if you like but only if you'll easily remember them.

The math for this is well documented. Longer string, MUCH harder to crack and more opportunity to create something that's easy to remember without being written down. End of story.

Why then do so many sites restrict password size to 8 characters? Why did Amex of all places reduced its max allowable password length from 8 to 6 a few years ago???!!!! Why do so many sites disallow spaces when by lengthening a passphrase they make it harder to crack it?

We need a new paradigm here, not more cryptic short passwords.
Eric_Brown
Eric_Brown,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/11/2012 | 12:55:13 PM
re: 7 Tips To Toughen Passwords
I have to argue with you, the biggest single security problem is articles like this one. I have to laugh by the fact that million articles about password strength and password managers the minute there are reports of passwords being stolen. HELLOGǪ anyone out there, the strength of your password or having it locked-up in Fort Knox does not mean anything when it is stolen from the source! You need to be talking about other steps like the need to implement some form of 2FA (two-factor authentication) were you can telesign into your account to protect you if your password were to be stolen. If they were to try to use the GǣstolenGǥ password and were not on the computer, smartphone or tablet you have designated trusted, they would still need the one-time PIN code which is delivered to YOUR phone via SMS or Voice.
Bprince
Bprince,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/9/2012 | 9:33:40 PM
re: 7 Tips To Toughen Passwords
Personally, I think the best thing to do is prioritize. Like Osmore is saying, there are a lot of sites that require passwords (such as this one). But this account probably isn't as important to you in terms of personal information etc. as your Facebook or email. So maybe come up with complex but memorable passwords for the important stuff and weaker passwords for the sites that are less important.
Brian Prince, InformationWeek/Dark Reading Comment Moderator
thecalitree
thecalitree,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/9/2012 | 8:52:22 PM
re: 7 Tips To Toughen Passwords
If you really want to know how to choose a correct password, look at this comic.

http://xkcd.com/936/

I literally just registered to post this.

The author of the comics is a physicist/computer scientist from what I can tell. Seems legit.

Page 1 / 2   >   >>


Edge-DRsplash-10-edge-articles
I Smell a RAT! New Cybersecurity Threats for the Crypto Industry
David Trepp, Partner, IT Assurance with accounting and advisory firm BPM LLP,  7/9/2021
News
Attacks on Kaseya Servers Led to Ransomware in Less Than 2 Hours
Robert Lemos, Contributing Writer,  7/7/2021
Commentary
It's in the Game (but It Shouldn't Be)
Tal Memran, Cybersecurity Expert, CYE,  7/9/2021
Register for Dark Reading Newsletters
White Papers
Video
Cartoon
Current Issue
Everything You Need to Know About DNS Attacks
It's important to understand DNS, potential attacks against it, and the tools and techniques required to defend DNS infrastructure. This report answers all the questions you were afraid to ask. Domain Name Service (DNS) is a critical part of any organization's digital infrastructure, but it's also one of the least understood. DNS is designed to be invisible to business professionals, IT stakeholders, and many security professionals, but DNS's threat surface is large and widely targeted. Attackers are causing a great deal of damage with an array of attacks such as denial of service, DNS cache poisoning, DNS hijackin, DNS tunneling, and DNS dangling. They are using DNS infrastructure to take control of inbound and outbound communications and preventing users from accessing the applications they are looking for. To stop attacks on DNS, security teams need to shore up the organization's security hygiene around DNS infrastructure, implement controls such as DNSSEC, and monitor DNS traffic
Flash Poll
Twitter Feed
Dark Reading - Bug Report
Bug Report
Enterprise Vulnerabilities
From DHS/US-CERT's National Vulnerability Database
CVE-2023-33196
PUBLISHED: 2023-05-26
Craft is a CMS for creating custom digital experiences. Cross site scripting (XSS) can be triggered by review volumes. This issue has been fixed in version 4.4.7.
CVE-2023-33185
PUBLISHED: 2023-05-26
Django-SES is a drop-in mail backend for Django. The django_ses library implements a mail backend for Django using AWS Simple Email Service. The library exports the `SESEventWebhookView class` intended to receive signed requests from AWS to handle email bounces, subscriptions, etc. These requests ar...
CVE-2023-33187
PUBLISHED: 2023-05-26
Highlight is an open source, full-stack monitoring platform. Highlight may record passwords on customer deployments when a password html input is switched to `type="text"` via a javascript "Show Password" button. This differs from the expected behavior which always obfuscates `ty...
CVE-2023-33194
PUBLISHED: 2023-05-26
Craft is a CMS for creating custom digital experiences on the web.The platform does not filter input and encode output in Quick Post validation error message, which can deliver an XSS payload. Old CVE fixed the XSS in label HTML but didn’t fix it when clicking save. This issue was...
CVE-2023-2879
PUBLISHED: 2023-05-26
GDSDB infinite loop in Wireshark 4.0.0 to 4.0.5 and 3.6.0 to 3.6.13 allows denial of service via packet injection or crafted capture file