Re: Passwords

[Don Helms <dhelms () sw org>]

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  From: Rick Smith <rick_smith () securecomputing com>
  Subject: Re: Passwords
  Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 11:02:24 -0500 

> You can find tools to detect "hackable" passwords, that is, passwords that
> can be recovered through dictionary attacks or other large scale guessing.
> But your intuition is otherwise correct: you can't analyze a password and
> somehow tell if someone has "hacked (i.e. recovered) that particular
> password for that particular account.
---------------End of Original Message-----------------

However, you can track the activity on a given account and see if the patterns
change.  For example, the guy that logs in to one app every moorning, does his
work and goes home.  If suddenly that user is running this app, that app and 
poking round at random, his password might have been compromised.  Also keep 
an eye on time of day for new and unusual activity.  

There are apps that will track log files, etc and look at the patterns of usage.

-Don


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Don Helms  
Scott & White Hospital
dhelms () sw org
Date: 10/13/1999

All opinions are just that...
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