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Google Tech talk on Password Reset

In a recent post, I described the problems with password reset, and how current password reset questions can be attacked. Watch my recent Google Tech talk on this subject...

| Research | Security | Tech & society | 08/14/08 at 11:35 pm |


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What is worse than reusing passwords?

Think your password resets are secure? Think again. The city you grew up in and your mother's maiden name can be derived from public records. Facebook might unwittingly tell the name of your best friend. And, until quite recently, Ford with its 25% market share had a pretty good chance of being the brand of your first car!



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Password aging, part 1

While it's clearly possible to use the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files in Solaris and other Unix systems without making use of the password aging features, you could be taking advantage of these features to encourage your users to practice better security -- and, with the right password aging values, you can configure a good password-changing policy into your system files while limiting the risk that your users will be locked out of their accounts. In this week's column, we look at the various fields in the shadow file that govern password aging and suggest settings that might give you the right balance between user convenience and good password security.

| How-to | Open Source | Security | 10/05/05 at 7:44 am |


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