Introduction
The seminar was on a very interesting evaluation done on the strength of password meters. Almost all of us are exposed to password-strength meters in our everyday life. The general representation of password meter is a colored bar which when seen as a short red bar indicates a weak password and a long green bar indicates a strong password. The real purpose of a password meter is to show the path for better security to its users. However the strengths and weaknesses of these widely deployed meters has rarely been studied and hence this paper really opens up the real world thing going on. The authors of this paper [1] have chosen 11 prominent web service providers such as Google, Yahoo, Apple, FedEx, Skype, Microsoft, Twitter, Drupal, Dropbox, Paypal, ebay. To analyze these checkers the Javascript code has been extracted and analysed first, then relevant parts from the source code are plugged into a dictionary which in itself is an attack algorithm written in javascript and php. Then the behaviour of each meter is recorded when presented with publicly available dictionaries. At the end a close approximation of each meter’s scoring algorithm is made and reviewed.
Password meters overview [1]
1) Charset and length: Most of the checkers classify a password as invalid or short until a minimum length requirement is met.
2) Strength scales and labels: there would be various strength scales varying from 3 (as in Skype and PayPal which classifies as weak-fair-strong) to 6 (as in twitter which classifies as perfect-okay-could be more secure-not secure enough-obvious-too short)
3) User Information: Certain checkers consider the environment parameters relating to the user such as first name /email address etc.
4) Types
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Figure 1: Sample Password checker output
Conclusion
By far it is one of best works done relating to the topic. It is a comprehensive study of the most widely used password meters in the current world. The results and the analysis has been a very thrilling experience as it brings forth the fact that we as users cannot blindly depend on these meters and believe that our passwords would remain secure throughout. Several weaknesses and difference of these password meters are brought out to us and could be well used to design a very reliable and uniform password checker.
References
[1] Xavier de Carne de Carnavalet, Mohammed Mannan, “From very weak to very Strong: Analyzing password strength meters”
[2] M.Bishop and D.Klein, “Improving system Security via proactive password checking”
[3] https://madiba.encs.concordia.ca/software/passwordchecker/
However, I feel users had a different vision/perspective on security mechanisms and they trusted each other during those times and did not have to worry about protecting their information (this is how exactly, one person’s ignorance becomes another’s person’s - hacker, here bliss). This book helps us to understand the vulnerabilities; its impacts and why it is important to address/ fix those holes.
It is an attack, the attacker cracking the password by millions of words in a dictionary
The security evaluations performed by DWP Systems, take after a standard appraisal philosophy starting with observation, powerlessness list and entrance testing for validation. DWP performs these assessments with the least possible impact to the organization. This means our assessment tools have been throttled back as to not consume customer Internet bandwidth. Our assessments are also done at a mutually agreeable time which is determined to be least impacting to the
The costs of implementing biometrics into security, specifically passports, are enormous. In many instances, cost is much higher than traditional forms of security such as passwords and personal identification numbers.10 Biometrics also puts users...
Social engineering, the ultimate way to hack password or get the things you want. How most people get into accounts like G-Mail, Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook, or other online accounts. Most people think that hacking a password you need to be computer savvy. This is not the case, those people are crackers. They use custom code or programs to break the passwords. The best way is to use social engineering, I will explain later in the paper why. Before I go any further into this paper, that this information is for research and to increase your knowledge and awareness about security. Also, I hope it will teach you what to watch out for.
The American corporate is hiring only the best security researchers who can contribute their fullest, of mind and time, toward enhancing security across the World Wide Web. Google is not placing specific bounds on this project and aims only to elevate the security of any software depended by a substantial population. The team will pay careful attention to the methods, targets, and inspirations of hackers using standard approaches. Further, the security team will conduct new research into exploitations, mitigations, and program analysis; practically anything it deems important.
The use of hacking to identify weaknesses in computer security has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent years. Awareness of this issue is important, because our ever increasing reliance on technology means that breaches in computer security have the potential to have wide-ranging and devastating consequences to society, worldwide. This essay will begin by clearly defining the term ‘hacking’ and will examine the type of people who hack and for what reasons. There will then follow a discussion of the moral argument on hacking before examining a few brief examples. The essay will then conclude by arguing against the use of hacking as a means of identifying weaknesses in computer security.
Biometrics-based authentication applications include workstation, network, and domain access, single sign-on, application logon, data protection, remote access to resources, transaction security and Web security (Campbell, 1995). Utilized alone or integrated with other technologies such as smart cards, encryption keys and digital signatures, biometrics are set to pervade nearly all aspects of the economy and our daily lives (Campbell, 1995). Among the features measured are; face, fingerprints, hand geometry, iris, and voice (Campbell, 1995).
For example in the new technology if someone can access the Wi-Fi then he or she can have access to the devices that are connected in that network environment. With the new data in hand, Bonneau found that 49 percent of users whom he was able to match across both sites had the used the same password for their login credentials. Six percent of them differed their passwords by changing capitalization or adding a small suffix (that is, something like "Password" and
1A. Nowadays, people started to consider security as the main priority. Therefore as a result, electronics companies included some technologies like finger print system in their products, such as manufacturing firms for computers/laptop, mobile departments and so on. I think fingerprint is the best password. Fingerprint system is a high-level security for personal usage which can be used for personal computer systems in government sectors, where the data can be protected by only one person. However, acquiring the password is an easy way as this can protect the systems with high standards of security. Also, as each person has his/her own finger prints which are unique. This would help only the owner of the compute to login. But by following this procedure, it would be difficult for
When the entire body of knowledge concerning passwords is evaluated a few things become abundantly clear. First, passwords are going to be around for some time yet. There simply are no present alternatives that are cost competitive with passwords or that users can adopt in a successful manner. While it is certainly a noble effort to explore replacements for passwords, we cannot refuse to acknowledge their continued existence in the foreseeable future.
capacity and performance. However, as networks enable more and more applications and are available to more and more users, they become ever more vulnerable to a wider range of security threats. To combat those threats and ensure that e-business transactions are not compromised, security technology must play a major role in today's networks.
“The term -information security- means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction” (United States Code, 2008). In order to ensure the identity of who is trying to access the information, the concept of “Biometric Technology” has been developed in the last years. This essay will start explaining this concept and the characteristics of its development through the time. Then, the essay will offer a brief explanation of biometric systems operation and a description of different biometric systems developed until now. Finally, this research analyzes the current and future applications and the issues that surround it.
Rayne, PB, Kulkarni, P, Patil, S & Meshram, BB 2012, ‘Authentication and Authorization:Tool for Ecommerce Security’, Engineering Science and Technology: An International Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 150-157.