Following a more recent hack in to the Stratfor Global Intelligence computer network, the Utah Valley University went to task to analyze the strength of passwords released after the hack attack. The university endeavor examined the sorts of passwords that individuals utilize and if they're complicated sufficient to protect against cyber criminals from getting entry to very sensitive information.
Following the Strafor information breach, which had been perpetrated by hackers, related to Anonymous, the group utilized 120 computers to decode encrypted passwords. The hackers had unveiled the names, e-mail addresses, credit card numbers and encrypted passwords of individuals who had signed up with Stratfor.
The email addresses and encrypted passwords were likely the most valuable of the information taken. These two pieces of information can give criminals access in order to infiltrate other organizations. The emails of hundreds of thousands of people were revealed. These victims can now be targeted by email with malicious software.
What Utah researchers discovered was that many from the passwords had been fairly easy and simple to decode. The researchers noted that the practice is extremely harmful, particularly pertaining to thieves reusing exactly the same password over and over on programs that might include private information and info.
Stratfor did provide a degree of security for the passwords, which were saved cryptographically as an MD5 hash. This can be a exercise that assists to shield the info at some level. Nevertheless, because the University researchers discovered out utilizing moderate computing power and programs created to break into passwords, numerous from the released MD5 password hashes might be decoded back to their initial password. The easier and shorter the password, the quicker that it might be decoded by researchers.
The college study team stated it's been in a position to decode roughly 160,000 passwords from Stratfor.
The team will not release the passwords for ethical reasons, but will be used as part of a study of trends in how people pick passwords and how resistant those passwords are or are not to cracking attempts. The study shows how important it is for people to select complex passwords, or ones with at least eight or nine characters, a mix of upper- and lower-case letters along with numbers and even punctuation.
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Following the Strafor information breach, which had been perpetrated by hackers, related to Anonymous, the group utilized 120 computers to decode encrypted passwords. The hackers had unveiled the names, e-mail addresses, credit card numbers and encrypted passwords of individuals who had signed up with Stratfor.
The email addresses and encrypted passwords were likely the most valuable of the information taken. These two pieces of information can give criminals access in order to infiltrate other organizations. The emails of hundreds of thousands of people were revealed. These victims can now be targeted by email with malicious software.
What Utah researchers discovered was that many from the passwords had been fairly easy and simple to decode. The researchers noted that the practice is extremely harmful, particularly pertaining to thieves reusing exactly the same password over and over on programs that might include private information and info.
Stratfor did provide a degree of security for the passwords, which were saved cryptographically as an MD5 hash. This can be a exercise that assists to shield the info at some level. Nevertheless, because the University researchers discovered out utilizing moderate computing power and programs created to break into passwords, numerous from the released MD5 password hashes might be decoded back to their initial password. The easier and shorter the password, the quicker that it might be decoded by researchers.
The college study team stated it's been in a position to decode roughly 160,000 passwords from Stratfor.
The team will not release the passwords for ethical reasons, but will be used as part of a study of trends in how people pick passwords and how resistant those passwords are or are not to cracking attempts. The study shows how important it is for people to select complex passwords, or ones with at least eight or nine characters, a mix of upper- and lower-case letters along with numbers and even punctuation.
For more information read about usb flash drive review.
About the Author:
Oliver David writes articles for Lok-it.net and other blogs on issues like usb encryption and secure flash drive.
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