Re: random passwords

From	Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com>
Organization	Deepwoods Software
Subject	Re: random passwords
References	(9 earlier) <87bm9qqpj0.fsf@hpz420.dhh.gt.org> <plse3k$2ne$1@dont-email.me> <GK2dnWxgcoDYjR_GnZ2dnUU7-XnNnZ2d@giganews.com> <pltd860127t@news3.newsguy.com> <pluapr$1ai$1@dont-email.me>
Newsgroups	alt.os.linux, comp.os.linux.misc, comp.security.misc
Message-ID	<UOGdnfM-Aq8aJB_GnZ2dnUU7-VPNnZ2d@giganews.com> (permalink)
Date	2018-08-26 09:30 -0500

Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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At Sun, 26 Aug 2018 13:43:23 -0000 (UTC) Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:

> 
> In comp.os.linux.misc Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> wrote:
> > On 08/25/2018 10:28 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> >> At Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:27:32 -0000 (UTC) Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
> >>                                                                      
> >> 
> >> One other bit of idiocy is the "Security Question" nonsense favored by banks.  
> >> Rather then have the customer make up the Security Question(s), the on-line 
> >> banking software has a fixed hardwired set, most of which have answers that 
> >> can be easily determined from public information (assuming the customer 
> >> records "honest" answers).  Stuff like "Who was your best man at your 
> >> wedding?" Do people make wedding guests sign NDAs? -- I think not -- an 
> >> attacker can do some social engineering and/or public records searches and 
> >> have a short list of answers for each of the stock Security Questions for the 
> >> target customer.
> >> 
> >> If the *customer* made up the Security Question(s), they can be any random 
> >> thing.  And if the "Security Question(s)" were in fact nonsense, with nonsense 
> >> answers, that layer of security would have very high entropy.
> >> 
> > What bugs me with those is that often none of the  offered questions
> > have answers because they do not apply to me.
> 
> Small secret.  You don't have to answer these questions honestly.  You
> just have to record what your answers were so you can obtain the text
> you entered later.

*I* know this, *you* know this, but Joe Average doesn't.  He will provide 
"honest" answers, that can be found in public records or guessed or acquired 
by social engineering.

> 
> > Stuff like "Who was your best man at your wedding?" when I was never
> > married.
> 
> So, make something up.
> 
> > "What is the name of your favorite pet?" when I never had a
> > pet.
> 
> Again, make something up.
> 
> > "What was the address of the first house you lived in?" when I do
> > not have the slightest idea. "What is your favorite football team?" when
> > I have no interest in sports and do not even know the names of any
> > football teams.
> 
> Again, don't ever answer these honestly.  The answer should always be
> something fake that you record for use later if you need it.
> 
> An easy way to create something fake to add is to simply randomly
> select six or eight words from /usr/share/dict/words (or wherever your
> system stores it):
> 
>   sort -R --random-source=/usr/share/dict/words | head -8 
> 
> Produces eight randomly selected words, put those in as the answer, and
> record them for use later (and here is where a password manager it
> helpful again, it can also record, if it supports such, these
> question/answer pairs for you so you can find them later when you need
> them).
> 
>                                                                                                         

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services

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random passwords Ivan Shmakov <ivan@siamics.net> - 2018-08-23 14:05 +0000
  Re: random passwords Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2018-08-23 09:47 -0500
    Re: random passwords Wouter Verhelst <w@uter.be> - 2018-08-24 10:16 +0200
      Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-24 11:46 +0100
        Re: random passwords Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2018-08-24 09:19 -0400
        Re: random passwords Daniel60 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> - 2018-08-25 21:57 +1000
          Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-25 13:32 +0100
  Re: random passwords Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-23 15:50 +0100
    Re: random passwords Ivan Shmakov <ivan@siamics.net> - 2018-08-23 16:40 +0000
      Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-23 17:12 +0000
      Re: random passwords Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-23 18:49 +0100
        Re: random passwords Ivan Shmakov <ivan@siamics.net> - 2018-09-01 13:45 +0000
          Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-09-01 15:02 +0000
          Re: random passwords Allodoxaphobia <knock_yourself_out@example.net> - 2018-09-01 16:54 +0000
          Re: random passwords Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2018-09-04 07:37 +0100
  Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-23 15:12 +0000
    Re: random passwords Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2018-08-23 12:49 -0400
      Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-23 17:18 +0000
        Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-23 17:27 +0000
          Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-23 17:44 +0000
    Re: random passwords Grant Taylor <gtaylor@tnetconsulting.net> - 2018-08-23 12:38 -0600
      Re: random passwords Grant Taylor <gtaylor@tnetconsulting.net> - 2018-08-23 12:47 -0600
        Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-24 02:20 +0000
        Re: random passwords Jasen Betts <jasen@xnet.co.nz> - 2018-08-24 05:10 +0000
      Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-24 02:32 +0100
        Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-24 01:56 +0000
          Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-24 11:37 +0100
        Re: random passwords Grant Taylor <gtaylor@tnetconsulting.net> - 2018-08-23 20:13 -0600
          Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-24 11:42 +0100
            Re: random passwords Chris Elvidge <chris@mshome.net> - 2018-08-24 11:55 +0100
              Re: random passwords Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2018-08-24 08:37 -0400
                Re: random passwords Chris Elvidge <chris@mshome.net> - 2018-08-24 13:51 +0100
                Re: random passwords Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2018-08-24 12:41 -0400
            Re: random passwords not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2018-08-25 02:03 +0000
              Re: random passwords Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> - 2018-08-25 11:32 +0100
              Re: random passwords Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2018-08-25 07:49 -0400
                Re: random passwords not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2018-08-27 23:12 +0000
                Re: random passwords not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2018-08-27 23:40 +0000
                Re: random passwords Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2018-08-27 20:10 -0400
                Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-28 00:17 +0000
                Re: random passwords Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2018-08-27 20:52 -0400
                Re: random passwords John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2018-08-27 22:31 -0500
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-28 10:23 +0100
                Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-28 14:45 +0000
                Re: random passwords not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2018-08-28 23:00 +0000
                Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-29 01:22 +0000
                Re: random passwords not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2018-08-29 07:21 +0000
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-29 11:37 +0100
                Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-29 12:25 +0000
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-29 19:35 +0100
                Re: random passwords John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2018-08-29 17:46 -0500
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-30 06:53 +0100
                Re: random passwords John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2018-08-30 07:48 -0500
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-30 19:07 +0100
                Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-31 00:36 +0000
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-31 03:10 +0100
                Re: random passwords Chris Elvidge <chris@mshome.net> - 2018-08-31 12:26 +0100
                Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-29 23:36 +0000
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-29 11:35 +0100
                Re: random passwords not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2018-08-29 23:45 +0000
      Re: random passwords Ivan Shmakov <ivan@siamics.net> - 2018-08-24 18:07 +0000
        Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-24 20:27 +0000
    Re: random passwords Bud Frede <frede@mouse-potato.com> - 2018-09-03 07:23 -0400
  Re: random passwords Ivan Shmakov <ivan@siamics.net> - 2018-08-23 16:57 +0000
    Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-23 17:07 +0000
  Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-23 17:02 +0000
    Re: random passwords Ivan Shmakov <ivan@siamics.net> - 2018-08-23 17:25 +0000
      Re: random passwords William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2018-08-23 17:32 +0000
      Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-23 17:46 +0000
        Re: random passwords Ivan Shmakov <ivan@siamics.net> - 2018-08-23 18:07 +0000
        Re: random passwords Grant Taylor <gtaylor@tnetconsulting.net> - 2018-08-23 12:51 -0600
    Re: random passwords Allodoxaphobia <knock_yourself_out@example.net> - 2018-08-24 02:35 +0000
  Re: random passwords John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2018-08-25 11:13 -0500
    Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-25 17:24 +0000
      Re: random passwords John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2018-08-25 13:17 -0500
        Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-25 20:27 +0000
          Re: random passwords Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2018-08-25 21:28 -0500
            Re: random passwords Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2018-08-26 01:19 -0400
              Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-26 13:43 +0000
                Re: random passwords Ivan Shmakov <ivan@siamics.net> - 2018-08-26 14:15 +0000
                Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-26 15:18 +0000
                Re: random passwords Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2018-08-26 09:30 -0500
              Re: random passwords Michael Black <mblack@pubnix.net> - 2018-08-26 11:44 -0400
                Re: random passwords John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2018-08-26 16:40 -0500
                Re: random passwords Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2018-08-26 21:11 -0500
                Re: random passwords Allodoxaphobia <knock_yourself_out@example.net> - 2018-08-28 13:29 +0000
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-28 14:32 +0100
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-27 07:17 +0100
                Re: random passwords Melzzzzz <Melzzzzz@zzzzz.com> - 2018-08-27 06:21 +0000
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-27 08:15 +0100
                Re: random passwords Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> - 2018-08-27 22:44 +0000
              Re: random passwords azigni <azigni@yahoo.com> - 2018-08-26 12:55 -0600
                Re: random passwords Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2018-08-26 16:09 -0500
                Re: random passwords Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-08-26 21:32 +0000
                Re: random passwords Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2018-08-26 21:11 -0500
                Re: random passwords The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2018-08-27 07:19 +0100
            Re: random passwords Doug McIntyre <merlyn@dork.geeks.org> - 2018-08-26 00:41 -0500
              Re: random passwords Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2018-08-26 06:48 -0500

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