Re: XP Are Private Keys Secure ?

From: Markus Jansson (jansson_markus@ziplip.com)
Date: 06/07/02 

From: Markus Jansson <jansson_markus@ziplip.com>
Date: Fri, 07 Jun 2002 11:58:20 GMT

On Fri, 07 Jun 2002 01:55:53 -0600, drunkardswalk@earthlink.net wrote:
> Well, the passwords are encrypted, but by default, not very well. Get
> a copy of "Hacking Windows 2000 Exposed" (an essential book) for
> details on how to lock it down. Basically, if you haven't gone to
> some extremes, anyone with physical access to your machine can crack
> the SAM database. Be sure you have a strong heart before reading that
> book, though <g>.

You are talking about Windows2000. He was talking about WindowsXP. In
WindowsXP, the private keys are encrypted using the users salted
passphrase. So they are protected.

However, make sure you enable "FIPS for encryption, signing, hashing
blahblah" at Local Security Policy so that the encryption level is good.

Markus Jansson

----------------------------------------
My privacy related homepages and PGPkey
http://www.markusjansson.net

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