Tagged Questions

24
votes
10answers
2k views

Intel How Strong is Your Password page, good advice?

I came across this Intel How Strong is Your Password? page which estimates how strong your password is. It has some advice on choosing better passwords including that you should use multiple ...
2
votes
1answer
107 views

Why are Lengthy Password Stronger Than Complex? [duplicate]

So all my life I've been listening to people tell me to make complex password: Upper / Lower / Numeric / Symbols. Recently though I've been reading / seeing that length above all seems to make for ...
0
votes
2answers
291 views

Can my ISP know my passwords

If I am using some proxy service, proxy service provider can know my passwords to my online accounts. In which case my ISP can filter my requests and get my passwords to my online accounts? And how ...
0
votes
2answers
165 views

What are RealVNC 5.0 Authentication Protocol Security Limitations?

In the old version of RealVNC, the password length was limited to 8 characters which was easier to be cracked. They have now increased the password length by 255 characters, will this make Realvnc ...
7
votes
5answers
370 views

Are we concentrating too much on password complexity?

As a developer and/or user, do I really need to worry about password strength if the system does not allow brute force attack to be feasible (implements a delay or attempt counter) or implements a ...
17
votes
7answers
2k views

Why don't people hash and salt usernames before storing them

Everyone knows that if they have a system that requires a password to log in, they should be storing a hashed & salted copy of the required password, rather than the password in plaintext. What I ...
5
votes
2answers
336 views

Requiring regular password change but storing previous paswords?

My bank requires me to change my password regularly but then they can detect if my password was used before. They probably store the old password (possibly hashed) in order to detect it. I think this ...
2
votes
3answers
101 views

How to make an outbound request to users to update their passwords?

Clearly it works best if the request to update a password happens as a response to an inbound request to access a known system, but how do you make an outbound request to users to update their ...
3
votes
1answer
278 views

Why do some large companies still store passwords in plain text/decrypt-able format? [closed]

In the last couple of weeks I've come across two fairly large companies who seem to not have stringent password security: Tesco - they store passwords in an "encrypted" format, yet they can decrypt ...
3
votes
4answers
405 views

Is there any explanation (other than storing plaintext) for case-insensitive passwords?

I've come across a few organisations stating that passwords are case-insensitive. Obviously this is ridiculous, and a gigantic red flag from a security point of view. Is there any explanation for why ...
1
vote
2answers
83 views

is it appropriate to set restrictions on a user's password? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: XKCD #936: Short complex password, or long dictionary passphrase? Im developing a website and am curious as to the current trends in the nature of passwords. Is it good ...
17
votes
8answers
3k views

Why Not Allow Special Characters In a Password?

The culprit in this case is a particular (and particularly large) bank. I know one that does not allow special characters (of any sort) in their passwords. Is their any valid reason for doing this? ...
3
votes
3answers
112 views

In what situations are web services required to protect confidentiality of user information?

I know that if a web application needs to be PCI-DSS or HIPAA compliant the user personal identifiable information (e.g. user password, etc) needs to be kept confidential. Under what other situations ...
1
vote
2answers
315 views

Long Passwords: How are they more secure? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: XKCD #936: Short complex password, or long dictionary passphrase? How are long passwords more secure? The only situation in which I can accept long passwords are more ...
20
votes
5answers
1k views

Is it common practice to log rejected passwords?

While selecting unique passwords for each purpose is a great idea, in practice this rarely happens. Therefore many select passwords from a personal pool of passwords that are easily remembered. When ...
30
votes
8answers
1k views

Why do password strength requirements exist?

Password strength is now everything, and they force you to come up with passwords with digits, special characters, upper-case letters and whatnot. Apart from being a usability nightmare (even I as a ...
3
votes
4answers
480 views

Send new password by email is bad practice but what to do if user forgot his password?

According to http://plaintextoffenders.com/post/7006690494/whats-so-wrong-about-sending-a-new-password-in it's bad so what to do ? Just ask him to set a new one ?
0
votes
1answer
180 views

What's the idea behind requiring users to change password periodically? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How does changing your password every 90 days increase security? Some sites require users to change their password every x days. For example, at least 3 online banking ...
2
votes
0answers
95 views

Lastpass - Can I just keep the previous autofills? [closed]

I just installed the Lastpass Firefox plugin, and it seems like a useful tool thus far. The only thing that drives me crazy is that I am used to the Firefox saved passwords where it will show the last ...
3
votes
3answers
273 views

What to do when asked for a weak password

The guys who made the security for my country's state bank are completely nuts in all senses. Their internet banking password must be between 8 and 10 characters, and contain only letters and digits. ...
10
votes
5answers
296 views

What is the best way to hand out passwords to a widely spread diverse employee base?

I have a problem I need to solve - specifically, how to hand out passwords to people in a variety of locations, and with a wide variety of access. I've thought of some options, but there are ...
3
votes
1answer
342 views

Best security algorith for storing passwords [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Which password hashing method should I use? I want the best cryptography algorithm for storing passwords in database, which one should I use and how can I implement ...
21
votes
5answers
1k views

Do spaces in a passphrase really add any more security/entropy?

I often see passphrase suggestions written as a sentence, with spaces. In that format are they more susceptible to a dictionary attack because each word is on it's own as opposed to a large unbroken ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views

Is forcing users to change passwords useful?

In many places, there's a policy that force the user changing it's password once a few months. The logic here is, that even if the password have leaked somehow, it'll be abused only for a relatively ...
8
votes
4answers
938 views

Passwords - any statistics on user behavior?

I'm looking for analyses of how users choose and use passwords. I'm sure there are many resources out there that analyze user passwords. For instance, I've seen many people analyze dumps of password ...
21
votes
6answers
5k views

Sharing wifi at a business - Bad Policy?

Is it safe for a small business to let customers use their wifi while waiting? My friend is starting up a small dentistry practice (1 dentist), and I'm setting up his computers/wifi as a favor. ...