What`s in a password and can it keep you and your business safe?

The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable. (From The Art of War By Sun Tzu.)

You either love them or hate them, but passwords, user names and PINs are with us to stay. No matter what you do, or who you are, someone somewhere wants you to provide proof, via a unique identifier, that you are who you say you are. Too often, doing this is not as easy as presenting your passport at emigration control. Indeed, the possible array of numbers, alpha-numeric strings, pet names and other character combinations that make up GOOD electronic passwords is far more confusing than your national passport.

There are several simple guidelines to help you choose better passwords. The key ones are:

* A password should be a minimum of eight characters long;

* It should include some form of punctuation or digit;

* Use mixed (upper and lower case) characters, if possible;

* Do not use a predictable keyboard pattern such as qwertyui;

* Do not repeat any character more than once in a row like zzzzzzzz;

* Do not use things that can be easily determined such as phone numbers and car registrations;

* Change the password regularly and do not reuse passwords;

* Do not replace letters with similar looking numbers. For instance, all of the letters i should not be blindly replaced by the digit 1.

(Source: Australian Computer Emergency Response Team)

The use of a poor password may allow someone to fraudulently use your account and possibly use, modify, corrupt or destroy any records that you may be allowed to modify. This may, for example, lead to misuse of your Internet Mail account to send Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (SPAM), with the possibility of abuse from the receivers, and the destruction of your personal and/or business credibility. Is there a magic bullet that will solve this problem? Many companies spend considerable time and effort to ensure that users do utilise strong passwords and that a good rotation practice is enforced. In these cases, the companies have well documented practices that users must adhere to, as well as a usage policy accepted and endorsed by management.

A popular tool called L0phtCrack, available from http://www.@stake.com, will provide your trusted network administrator with the ability to audit current passwords. Once audited, you will be able to determine how many of your users are diligent about strong authentication.

Security experts from industry, government, and academia cite weak passwords as one of the most critical Internet security threats. But while many administrators recognise the danger of passwords based on family or pet names, few realise that even experienced users expose networks to some form of risk, due to unsafe password practices. In a test conducted at a large technology company, where policy required that passwords exceed eight characters, mix cases, and include numbers or symbols.

* L0phtCrack obtained 18% of the passwords in 10 minutes.

* 90% of the passwords were recovered within 48 hours on a Pentium II/300.

(Source: http://www.L0pht.com)

Two-factor authentication has been with us since we started using ATMs for our cash withdrawals. Two-factor implies something that you have (an ATM card) and something that you know (PIN). Once both these credentials are offered, the bank will provide you with limited access to your assets.

Two-factor authentication can also be used in the office for authentication to the office network, mail server and the Internet-based applications that demand stronger credentials. This is possible through the use of additional software, or a combination of software and hardware tokens that generate random numbers. According to a report from Gartner (`Remote Access Authentication: Tokens rule in 2002`, by J Girard, December 2001), tokens remain the best investment through 2002.

"Classic hardware or software tokens, combined with a personal identification number (PIN), provide simple, unique and strong network access control with portability over a wide range of workstations and network architectures."

Gartner points out that sceptical IT managers and their executives need to rethink their stance on tokens and most of the objections are subjective and will not stand up to scrutiny. The report points out that tokens are not hard to use; are not obsolete and have been improved over the years by advancements in miniaturisation of the components used in their manufacture; are not hard to integrate with other access control systems; and, most importantly, provide user accountability.

"If a pervasive, interoperable solutions needs to be implemented immediately, tokens may be an appropriate and strong method for log-in access control. PKI, certificate and smart card solutions will not surpass tokens with respect to portability and interoperability before YE03 (p.8 probability)(R)"

Biometrics are also a good method of authentication (a fingerprint reader, retina scanner, palm print scanner or facial recognition system can be deployed), as it identifies you to the central system for who you really are, and not what you carry and know or could have guessed. In the case of a finger print reader, mathematically calculated values, unique to the fingerprint, are stored and used for comparison purposes, so these devices are not storing the complete fingerprint. Newer scanners are now capable of determining the heat signature in the finger as well, further enhancing the value that they have. Wide acceptance of fingerprint scanners are hampered by the misunderstanding of the underlying technology, high cost and low reliability of the scanners as well as the challenges to integrate these systems into existing environments. The high cost of entry for the other biometric systems make them only suitable for deployment in high security complexes such as bank vaults and government facilities.

The bottom line is you need to pick the tool that does the job best. Currently, tokens, particularly hardware tokens, are the most portable, flexible and versatile solution to remote access control. So if your business needs immediate, excellent protection, tokens are the solution - but select a vendor and partner that have a future strategy for migrating to and supporting emerging technologies.