security – The Page Not Found Blog

How to know a company takes your online security seriously.

After the news last summer about a measly 1.2 billion usernames and passwords being stolen I started doing my own research on Fortune 1000 companies that I do business with. I say measly because many large companies have downplayed the importance of protecting passwords. As far as basic password security the vast majority of them failed. By password security I mean how well will it hold up when it goes head-to-head with a super-powerful, cloud-based password cracker.

There is a very easy test that you can do as well. Simply go to the company’s website and attempted to reset your password.

The main problem is that login-based security enforcement is random and everyone does it somewhat differently. Some companies may do an excellent job of login and password security and other may not. And, yes, passwords are an antiquated, 20th century invention that’s unfortunately lived well past its useful lifespan. However, the usage of them is still so widely accepted that we as consumers are stuck with them for now. So I believe it’s up to us, the consumer, to also voice our opinions of what’s acceptable and what’s not rather than leave companies to go about their business without any feedback.

Companies with failing grades will have the following password characteristics:

Allow fewer than 15 characters
Limited you to letters only
Don’t allow upper and lower case letters
Limited you to alpha-numeric only with no special characters
Provided no password strength meter. Good ones are not security theater and consumers appreciate the instant feedback
Provided no hints on how to create a strong password
Blocked the pasting of passwords. This really discourages having longer passwords.
Don’t offer two-factor authentication
Don’t provide you the option to view your password that you typed. The vast majority of us are in the privacy of our office or home when type passwords. Seeing what you typed, especially if you get it wrong is a huge time and frustration saver.
Don’t track which computer you use and log IP addresses, dates and times of access.
Don’t allow you to register a specific computer or device.
Don’t enforce HTTPS. Any company that houses your secure data should enforce secure HTTP. It’s very rare these days, but it does happen.
?? If you have other characteristics not listed here let me know.

Most of the Fortune 1000 companies I do business easily have some (or most) of the above characteristics. The problem is this creates a honey pot for bad guys who know that a company allows very-easy-to-crack passwords. In my opinion, it’s certainly an advertisement for would-be criminals looking for easy pickings especially if they can simply steal a huge chunk of the company’s database.

Where did I get the 15 character minimum number? It’s basic math. The longer and more complex a password the harder it is to crack. At 15 characters you are talking about some serious and expensive computing power. For example, a simple all lower case password of “abcdefghijklmno” could take a few months to hack using a super massive password cracker according to https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm. That’s potentially a very expensive proposition for cracking large numbers of passwords. In comparison, a complex six-character password combing lower case letters, upper case letters, numbers and special characters “a1C&qZ” might take all of a few seconds to crack. Hmmm, if there are a decent percentage of short passwords in a database that might make it a viable target for the bad guys and certainly easy pickings.

Who cares about passwords? I’ve seen many comments from large companies poo-pooing the need for complex passwords and saying they have far more important security issues to worry about. My retort is I totally disagree. Password security is the least common dominator in today’s world. It’s common knowledge that many crimes happen because there was an easy opportunity. Easy to crack passwords are no different than leaving your car or house door unlocked, or leaving your car window open with a laptop sitting on the front seat.

What type of information are we talking about here that hackers are getting access to? I’m not trying to over dramatize this but we are talking about very personal information as proven in recent data breaches that include but are not limited to: your social security number, date and place of birth, bank login information, private conversations with a doctor or hospital, credit card account information, information on when you’ll be out of town, business dealings, corporate secrets, investments and oh so much more.

And, yeah, I know that consumers can whine about having to be bothered with complex passwords. I too hate having to manually create long, complex passwords especially on a site that enforces what seem like ridiculously twisted rules. However, there is a great solution…password vault apps! PC Magazine, for one, reviews these apps and they range from free to approximately $60. You can also share some of these apps between your laptop, phone and tablet.

Conclusion. Whom do you think a bad guy would target first, a large company that allows easy and short passwords or a large company that enforces good password security and they encrypt their passwords on the database server?

My recommendation is if your company has weak user password security then write the CEO of the company and tell them that password strength does matter and that’s it’s one more piece of armor to help protect all of their systems. Don’t waste your time on filling out the standard blah-blah feedback form. Complain to the top management since they have the power to make changes.

And use a password vault when you can. It will make managing complex passwords oh so much easier.

Recent Examples

References

Wikipedia – Password Strength

How secure is my password?

Think you have a strong password?

Why you can’t have more than 16 characters or symbols in your password.

5 ways that passwords get compromised

Over the last month as I’ve been doing normal updating of passwords I came across several major public company websites that gave me the following error:

The password you entered is invalid. Please enter between 8 and 20 characters or numbers only.

Anyone that knows anything about “Passwords 101” knows if you go with a minimum of 8 characters and/or numbers it could problematic if someone hacked into the password database. Security experts say that excellent password security includes alphabetical, numeric as well as non-alpha-numeric characters. A password of 8 characters and/or number could be hacked in micro-seconds.

This nicely dovetails with a number of conversations that I’ve had about this recently, and there is so much speculation about password security that I felt compelled to list the potential security holes for passwords. There is very little that you can do beyond minding your own passwords strength. The rest is up the companies and organizations that host your data. Here’s my list of the most common ways that passwords can get compromised.

Inadequate passwords – I suppose it makes sense to start off my list with this topic. But first I have a few important words about password strength. Simple passwords, such as those containing a limited amount of numbers and letters, for example “Test1234”, can be cracked in milliseconds on a typical laptop. When criminals get ahold of a username/password list the first they do is called a dictionary attack in which they try to compromise the easiest to break passwords first.

Unencrypted passwords stored on database – Not encrypting passwords in some way is the same thing as leaving the keys in the ignition of your car with the door unlocked. This is like ice cream to anyone that has access to the database, legally or illegally. They can simply download the ready-to-use user names and passwords. It doesn’t matter how sophisticated of a password you have if it’s simply unencrypted. There is no way for the user to know if the passwords are encrypted or not, it’s completely up to the IT department that controls the database.

Phishing virus – This virus can provide usernames and passwords for a targeted organization. The intent of this virus is to trick someone into entering their username and password on a fake website that mimics another website, such as an email logon screen. Once someone enters their credentials, they are immediately available to the criminals. The best prevention against phishing viruses is to not open any suspicious attachments and to keep your virus software up to date. There is not a 100% cure against getting a phishing virus since any attachment, even from legitimate sources, could be compromised. But, a good start is not opening ones from someone you don’t know or one that has a suspicious sounding name. Trust your instincts.

Keystroke loggers – This is a spy program that can be installed on any computer. They can be very hard to detect and they do exactly as advertised: they log everything you do on a computer and then they typically relay that information to somewhere else on the internet where your data can examined. The best protection against keystroke loggers, and viruses as well, is a multi-faceted approach: anti-virus programs, spyware sweepers and software firewalls. In addition to that, occasionally viewing which programs are running on your computer and researching any program names you don’t recognize.

Network Sniffers – Sniffer software can monitor all internet traffic over a network. Network sniffers can easily compromise public WiFi. The person who collects the sniffer data can sift thru the digital traffic information and then siphon out different types of login requests. Once they have the login information, if it’s encrypted they can run cracker programs against the encrypted information. As an internet surfer there is something you can to to help prevent getting your username and password siphoned off: purchase a consumer Virtual Private Network (VPN) product and always use it, especially if you are on an open WiFi at some place like Starbucks or an Airport.

Conclusion

Is there such thing as a truly secure password? Definitely not. This is especially true if the database server containing the password has less-then-adequate security measures in place to protect it from unauthorized intrusion.

Is there anything you can do to protect yourself? Absolutely. My minimum recommendation is to get a password manager program. They can create strong, unique passwords for every website that you need. Some password managers also let you securely share passwords between phone, tablet and laptop. Search for the words “password manager” to find out more. Here’s an article you can peruse as a starting point: pcmag.com. You should also keep your anti-virus software up-to-date and regularly run spyware scanners. Some folks go even one step further and install a software firewall that lets you control all communications to and from your computer. Last, but not least you can use VPN software when surfing the internet.

So what did I do about the websites mentioned above with poor security? In one case I wrote the CEO of the company and I also switched to using the maximum number of characters and numbers, which in the case mentioned above was 20. That website didn’t really store anything vital. In other case, I dropped the website like a lead balloon. If their password security is less-than-optimal I couldn’t help but question and wonder about the rest of their digital information security practices.

Staying competitive: The costs of rapid technological advancement

There is no doubt that consumers benefit from today’s unprecedented rapid technological innovation in mobile and web. But, there are costs that business incur as a result.

Here’s an overview of some of the costs that you should take into account when building budgets as well as mobile and web strategies. Some have argued that the trend of B.Y.O.D., or Bring Your Own Device, has mitigated some costs to corporations and organizations. That may be true, but after reading this you will probably agree that the costs listed below reach beyond the cost of the actual device. These are all things you have to take into account to stay competitive in today’s hard charging environment.

Hardware turnover. The advantage here goes to iOS devices. Android devices can become obsolete within six months because cell providers are allowed to provide phones and tablets with customized versions of the Android OS. They essentially lock you into a forced hardware upgrade because you’ll only get one or two minor OS upgrades per device. Your company will have to balance that software it can run on various device operating system versions. Whereas iOS devices, on the other hand, get access to the latest updates. Also, like the traditional PC upgrade path, with mobile devices you may have to upgrade to gain access to greater memory or CPU capabilities.

Code updates. You’ll spend a significant amount of time keeping up with the latest capabilities. It takes time to learn how best to adapt to the latest coding patterns, UI design patterns, and technological advancements.

Reverse compatibility. Some business have a requirement to maintain their code on older versions of browsers and operating systems. The further back you have to support OS versions the larger the support costs. The larger the gap between the latest versions of SDKs, APIs, devices and browsers and legacy versions the greater the cost.

Security. It can be very challenging to secure smartphones and tablets from physical intrusions and viruses. These breaches can give criminals access to your internal systems. Tracking down security leaks and fixing breaches can be very expensive and time consuming.

Replacement devices. You’ll need to decide whether or not to carry insurance on each device, or take the chance that a device will never get dropped, broken or stolen. Replacement costs are extremely expensive if you have no warranty and no option from the cellular carrier to get a subsidized upgrade.

Poor connectivity. This may seem like an odd cost to list, but poor connectivity can cripple the productivity of a remote workforce. The more reliant an organization becomes on internet connections, especially for real-time systems, the greater the cost that can be incurred when users encounter connectivity problems. Poor connectivity means slow, intermittent or a non-existent internet connection.

Cellular data costs. Another byproduct of being increasingly mobile is dealing with how your architecture handles data transactions between clients and servers. Chatty applications, or applications that move a lot of data back and forth, and heavy web pages, or web pages that are physically large when loaded into a browser, can result in significant internet and cellular data charges. For example, if your application is 3 MBs and it is accessed 1000 times per day by your workforce, that adds up to 3 GBs of data usage per day.