RE: [fw-wiz] Stanford break in

From: Stewart, John (johns_at_artesyncp.com)
Date: 04/23/04

  • Next message: Luca Berra: "Re: [fw-wiz] Stanford break in" 
    To: firewall-wizards@honor.icsalabs.com
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 10:33:10 -0500

    Speaking of password choices, and studies regarding them... we're going
    through some audits here (part of the Sarbanes-Oxley act), and one of the
    things we're going to need to get formal about enforcing is a Password
    Policy.

    It going to be something like:

    1 - Passwords must be changed every N days.
    2 - Old passwords must not be re-used for M months.
    3 - Passwords must meet the following guidelines:
            - Should not be based on well-known or easily accessible personal
    information.
            - Must contain at least X characters.
            - Must contain at least Y uppercase and Z lowercase characters.
            - Must contain at least W special characters (e.g. $, %, @)
            - Must contain at least V characters that are different from those
    found in the password that it is replacing.
            - Must not be dictionary (standard or slang) words, fictional
    character names, or based on the company's name or location.

    The values for N, M, X, Y, W, V, etc., are yet to be determined.

    It has always been my opinion that forcing a new password more often than
    once a year or so is counter-productive. I know how hard it is to get my DBA
    to remember the new root passwords we roll out; forcing frequent changes to
    the general user community I think is begging for a sticky-note problem.

    However, the "conventional wisdom" in the security (and auditor) world seems
    to be that frequent password changes should be required. I personally have
    never seen any studies on what makes a good password policy, just people
    making recommendations without any data to back it up. Most of these
    recommendations seem pretty naive to me, but unless I have some hard
    numbers, I'm afraid we're going to end up in a situation soon which will
    cause the sticky-note proliferation.

    I'm curious how others have handled this.

    thanks

    johnS
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