Storing passwords.

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  1. Posts : 5,442
    Windows 11 Home
       #11

    jimbo45 said:
    And --if exactly the the same data that YOU entered was being captured what difference would it make.
    Do you have any idea, how long it would take to calculate the password, even if you know the characters? Impossible.
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  2. Posts : 1,223
    Windows 10
       #12

    i use lastpass on all my browsers that support it. its an excellent password manager.
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  3. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #13

    TairikuOkami said:
    Do you have any idea, how long it would take to calculate the password, even if you know the characters? Impossible.
    Hi there

    You've mis-understood the whole concept

    You don't need to calculate / hack the password -- you've got the key info that the user types in in Plain text-- that is transmitted to the application.

    You need to go to "Hacking School class 101" !!!!!!. Also read up if you are using wifi what a Data analyser can do --simple basic Engineering - if anybody studies that any more.

    Not trying to be aggro here but a lot of stuff we thought was SIMPLE in the 1980's seems to be forgotten these days --for example you can make a Phone jammer by simply creating for a few cents a White noise 2.4 / 5 GHZ Oscillator generator -- but I'll bet zillions of people haven't a clue about how to make one. !!! Mobile phone signals - microwatts -- a 5mw (milliwatts -- many times bigger than the average mobile phone signal) device about the size of a 10 pack cigarette packet with a 9V battery will KILL any phone reception for about 100 metres !!!!!. All you need is a simple Inductor and a capacitor plus use the "magic Formula" --

    To start you off -- here's a Wiki article - but it's high School physics 101.

    (Don't underrate us old fashioned Engineers just yet !!!).

    LC circuit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Cheers
    jimbo
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  4. Posts : 2,979
    Windows 11
    Thread Starter
       #14

    I'm liking Lastpass, it's very convenient. I don't fully understand how secure it is but I haven't been using it long. I'm thinking along the lines of what is the best way to store a backup copy of your passwords rather that how do you manage your passwords, I mean we could all agree that using a password manager is much more convenient than entering passwords manually all of the time right?

    Keeping them on a notepad sounds like the simplest method. Would it be worth keeping encrypted copies on a backup drive as well?
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  5. Posts : 7,871
    Windows 11 Pro 64 bit
       #15

    I'm a firm believer in having an 'air gap' between the password storage medium and any computer network.

    You could store passwords on a password protected file on a USB stick, ensuring the PC is not connected to the internet whilst editing/ reviewing the file. I don't recommend storing sensitive passwords stored on the PC or any cloud storage. You can choose whether to print the passwords and store them in a safe location if needed. Ensure you shred or preferably burn any old password printouts.
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  6. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #16

    Kol12 said:
    I'm liking Lastpass, it's very convenient. I don't fully understand how secure it is but I haven't been using it long. I'm thinking along the lines of what is the best way to store a backup copy of your passwords rather that how do you manage your passwords, I mean we could all agree that using a password manager is much more convenient than entering passwords manually all of the time right?

    Keeping them on a notepad sounds like the simplest method. Would it be worth keeping encrypted copies on a backup drive as well?
    Hi there

    I'll agree Convenience is far superior -- but I think the point here wasn't how Convenient the system was but what was the most secure way of storing passwords.

    There's always a trade off between Security and Convenience -- a simple "Reward to Risk" or "Risk to Reward" ratio -- people will have to make their own minds on that.

    I agree that there's far too many times we need to enter passwords - however one of the WORST systems I've seen is Amazon on a phone.

    You can simply login and BUY something without entering a password or even a Credit / Bank card number if these are remembered on your phone / account. That is way TOO convenient !!!!.

    I'm not sure what the answer is here -- passwords seem a 20th century way of trying to solve a 21st century problem -- 20 - 30 years ago or even 10 I doubt whether people had too many different online / work accounts. Now people could easily have 30 or 40 or even more accounts in various places.

    Using Biometric systems doesn't work either -- you've seen Hollywood movies removing people's eyes / thumbs etc to get round that problem.

    Maybe humans should be issued with a unique GUID at birth - that at least would be a unique id and on entering the number perhaps some questions could be answered that only the individual would know. In case of a wrong answer a "Warn" or "Hack" alert could be triggered -- so if someone was being held hostage at the keyboard they could deliberately type in a wrong answer which would flag a warning to the appropriate authorities.

    However the idea of having a "Planet wide ID" seems a bit too totalitarian to me so I'll admit I just don't know. !!!!

    Cheers
    jimbo
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  7. Posts : 2,979
    Windows 11
    Thread Starter
       #17

    Steve C said:
    I'm a firm believer in having an 'air gap' between the password storage medium and any computer network.

    You could store passwords on a password protected file on a USB stick, ensuring the PC is not connected to the internet whilst editing/ reviewing the file. I don't recommend storing sensitive passwords stored on the PC or any cloud storage. You can choose whether to print the passwords and store them in a safe location if needed. Ensure you shred or preferably burn any old password printouts.
    These sound most realistic, I like the idea of a password protected file on usb, are there any apps you could recommend for that?

    What do you mean by an "air gap" exactly?
    Last edited by Kol12; 03 Oct 2016 at 05:48.
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  8. Posts : 2,979
    Windows 11
    Thread Starter
       #18

    jimbo45 said:
    Hi there

    I'll agree Convenience is far superior -- but I think the point here wasn't how Convenient the system was but what was the most secure way of storing passwords.

    There's always a trade off between Security and Convenience -- a simple "Reward to Risk" or "Risk to Reward" ratio -- people will have to make their own minds on that.

    I agree that there's far too many times we need to enter passwords - however one of the WORST systems I've seen is Amazon on a phone.

    You can simply login and BUY something without entering a password or even a Credit / Bank card number if these are remembered on your phone / account. That is way TOO convenient !!!!.

    I'm not sure what the answer is here -- passwords seem a 20th century way of trying to solve a 21st century problem -- 20 - 30 years ago or even 10 I doubt whether people had too many different online / work accounts. Now people could easily have 30 or 40 or even more accounts in various places.

    Using Biometric systems doesn't work either -- you've seen Hollywood movies removing people's eyes / thumbs etc to get round that problem.

    Maybe humans should be issued with a unique GUID at birth - that at least would be a unique id and on entering the number perhaps some questions could be answered that only the individual would know. In case of a wrong answer a "Warn" or "Hack" alert could be triggered -- so if someone was being held hostage at the keyboard they could deliberately type in a wrong answer which would flag a warning to the appropriate authorities.

    However the idea of having a "Planet wide ID" seems a bit too totalitarian to me so I'll admit I just don't know. !!!!

    Cheers
    jimbo
    Probably more the most secure way of keeping a *backup* of passwords, but I suppose the way in which you store them in general is still worth considering as well... Lastpass makes this easy but I do feel a bit unsure about having my data with a 3rd party. I believe it is all encrypted on their servers though?

    I don't like the idea of autofill passwords, credit cards etc.
    Last edited by Kol12; 03 Oct 2016 at 05:49.
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  9. Posts : 7,871
    Windows 11 Pro 64 bit
       #19

    Kol12 said:
    These sound most realistic, I like the idea of a password protected file on usb, are there any apps you could recommend for that?

    What do you mean by an "air gap" exactly?
    I just use Word and password protect the file. By 'air gap' I mean I'm never connected to the internet when editing a file containing passwords and the USB stick containing the password file is removed before I reconnect. Best to restart the PC if you are paranoid about password data remaining in memory!
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  10. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #20

    Steve C said:
    I just use Word and password protect the file. By 'air gap' I mean I'm never connected to the internet when editing a file containing passwords and the USB stick containing the password file is removed before I reconnect. Best to restart the PC if you are paranoid about password data remaining in memory!
    Hi there

    another equivalent expression is "Footnet" where you physically have to remove a device from one machine and attach it to another -- pencil and paper works similarly --you have to retrieve the document, then manually (or scan) the contents into the computer. !!

    Came from the old IBM Mainframe days where you used to have a lot of data on Mag tape reels -- The tape drives weren't on the whole shareable so you (or the Computer Operator) had to physically dismount a reel from one machine, walk over to machine 2 ("Foot net"), mount it and it would be useable on machine 2.

    Cheers
    jimbo
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