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.
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.
It is an attack, the attacker cracking the password by millions of words in a dictionary
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).
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
“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.
The definition of electronic door lock relates to electronic locks, and in particular, to an electronic recognition lock which automatically releases an electronically controlled door bolt in response to the reception of a coded sequence of signals transmitted by a transponder unit carried by a person desiring to open the lock. [1] We propose to improve the door-locking security system by combining many functions in an electronic door lock; we can call it as Smart Door Lock as well.
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.
Everyday tech users are increasingly engaged with web and mobile applications. These programs have many uses and can be very helpful in progressive usage. However, these applications also serve as the most accessible point of entry for malicious attackers to wreak havoc. The continual growth and usage of web-applications makes the infrastructure one that is susceptible to attack due to lack of thorough security implementation. The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is a community-based non-profit organization that concentrates on increasing the safety in the realm of web applications. It was started in 2001 and ever since then its primary goal has been to create a high level of transparency in the web applications and software in order to allow society to make informed decisions. They have a very open and collaborative mentality when it comes to the sharing of knowledge to include and empower the masses. Each year OWASP publishes a list of most common web application vulnerabilities. The top three have remained relatively dominant over the past few years, regardless of which place they fall into. In 2013 they were: injection, broken authentication and session management, and cross-site scripting. The purpose of this paper is to delve further into three of the top web application vulnerabilities from the past few years and evaluate their impact.