Passwords are secret keys which human beings can memorize.
3
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1answer
112 views
Using an MD5 hash as a password
Suppose Alice is using a password prompt that only accepts up to 32 characters for any particular password.
Memorization of long strings of random characters is not one of Alice's strengths, so she ...
2
votes
1answer
106 views
Recommended way of adding a pepper/secret key to password before hashing?
There have been several questions regarding password hashing here and on Security.SE.
A "pepper" is sometimes mentioned – an application-specific secret key. The canonical answer on password hashing ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
How can rainbow tables be used for a dictionary attack?
I'm putting together a password policy for my company. I very much want to avoid requiring complex passwords, and would much rather require length.
The maximum length I can enforce is 14 characters. ...
1
vote
1answer
100 views
Password verification
I'm looking for feedback on whether or not this is the proper way to approach password verification without transmitting the actual password. Are there any problems with this scheme.
We are working ...
2
votes
2answers
146 views
Assymetric password encryption - Viable? Which algorithm?
We have an application that requires cleartext passwords for user authentication because of the authentication mechanism in use (RADIUS/CHAP), which unfortunately we cannot change. Since we don't want ...
0
votes
2answers
75 views
Using salted hash as password for easy memorization without reuse?
I had an idea earlier:
Secure passwords are a) long, and b) unpredictable. A hash is both of these. Would it be safe to reuse a key between sites, and include the site's name as a salt? For example:
...
2
votes
0answers
97 views
Single-purpose symmetric encryption scheme for single files
I'm writing a simple password manager program that will encrypt/decrypt a single file (it's size will most likely stay under a few K). This is my initial file format design:
...
1
vote
2answers
87 views
It is reasonably safe to leave a SSH private key with a 30+ character passphrase public?
I'm curious about exploring uses for a distributing a single RSA private key with a passphrase instead of trying to secure the private key and distribute the public key. With the private key (and ...
0
votes
1answer
91 views
Sensible usecase for restricting special characters in passwords? [closed]
Please See Why Not Allow Special Characters In a Password on Security.
Several websites I've come across limit the allowed special characters for a password. My thought was, it should all be ...
4
votes
4answers
197 views
Could a very long password theoretically eliminate the need for a slow hash?
Before I provide details, I want to clarify that I am not looking to implement this practically, but I'm only asking to get a better understanding.
The way I currently understand it, we use slow ...
26
votes
2answers
1k views
What makes a hash function good for password hashing?
Using a cryptographic hash to store e.g. passwords in a database is considered good practice (as opposed to storing them plaintext), but is subject to attacks on said cryptographic hash, assuming the ...
4
votes
2answers
170 views
Can I use a key-derivation-function as the hash function H in SRP?
In the Secure Remote Password Protocol, the verifier must be stored on the server. In the case of a server compromise, an attacker could obtain these verifiers. If nobody reused passwords, this ...
1
vote
2answers
149 views
Deriving HMAC key and cipher key from passphrase? [duplicate]
I'm encrypting a file with AES-256 in CBC mode. I needed to add an HMAC for authentication and validation of the file contents and passphrase, so I used a SHA-256 HMAC over chunks of my file ...
2
votes
0answers
68 views
Why does the SRP6 calculation of B included a multiplier k = 3?
In SRP6 $B$ is calculated as $B=kv+ g^b, k=3$. What is the purpose of $k$, and why was it fixed as $3$?
(In SRP 6b, this value $3$ is replaced by $k = H(N,g)$, but this question is about SRP 6.)
5
votes
2answers
131 views
Can the hash of one message be used to make it easier to find the hash of a very similar message?
Background:
I am trying to get an understanding of using a hash of a passphrase as a secret.
Example:
...
2
votes
1answer
142 views
Ideal passphrase length: old diceware method (5 words) vs. your Bitcoin wallet.dat passphrase lenght (8 words) and doubling passwords?
I made a cool 5 word passphrase back then using the old Diceware method and use it as a master password. The question is as computing power increases will we need to add more and more words to our ...
2
votes
2answers
118 views
Commutativity of keyed hashes
Definition
${H_1}^{K_1}(X)$ means data $X$ hashed by keyed hashing algorithm $H_1$ with key $K_1$.
Short question
Is $H_1^{K_1}(H_2^{K_2}(X))$ equal to $H_2^{K_2}(H_1^{K_1}(X))$?
Is ...
4
votes
3answers
207 views
Initialize a PRNG with a password
Let's assume that we have a secure PRNG. Is it "safe" to initialize it with password, or seed based on a password like SHA256(password).
If yes, is it "safe" to generate as RSA or DSA key from it? If ...
1
vote
1answer
97 views
How can encryption software accept password lengths which are not one of the AES key lengths?
AES comes with key sizes of 128, 192, and 256 bit.
But in Truecrypt or other crypto software we can use passwords of different length, even less than 128 bit or more than 256 bit.
How is this ...
2
votes
2answers
174 views
Hashing passwords with a salt - why use different salt for everyone?
Given a database where we have usernames and passwords, we want to secure users' passwords by hashing them. We should not use only username and passwords in this hash, as someone having data from ...
4
votes
1answer
80 views
How to generate a key using any m passwords out of total n?
My application requires an AES-256 key K for some secure operation. In order to avoid saving this key in application, I have implemented following scheme:
There ...
2
votes
0answers
46 views
Encrypting or HMACing password digests
Assuming I'm using bcrypt to digest passwords, is any additional security gained by either encrypting or HMACing the resulting digests? By requiring a key to compare password hashes, I would expect ...
2
votes
1answer
150 views
estimate of time required to crack sha512crypt password with JtR + OpenCL
OK, I have a shadow file with a password that I know, it is 4 letters followed by two numbers. Using John The Ripper with OpenCL support, on a laptop with AMD Radeon Mobility graphics, how long would ...
3
votes
2answers
158 views
Crypto USB Devices - where is the PIN/Password stored?
I am currently looking at the security of cryto USB drives for storing x509 certificates. I have one in possession currently. It can be read/written to using the Microsoft Crypto APIs. Anytime one ...
1
vote
2answers
107 views
Where can I learn basic cryptography to know more about passwords and Bitcoin?
Basically my knowledge in passwords consist of setting up a Diceware master password back then, and I know hashes are not convertible back to the original password.
Some basic question I want to know ...
3
votes
1answer
184 views
A single password manager vs password generator/hash
I have been wondering about the options available for managing passwords. However, they all seem to fail if the master password is compromised (which isn't a big surprise).
On one hand you have ...
4
votes
4answers
213 views
How is it possible to parallelize a hashing function to crack an iteratively hashed password?
Suppose I have an algorithm that relies on multiple iterations of a hash function like SHA1 to slow down an attacker trying to bruteforce a hash.
...
4
votes
4answers
488 views
How can I validate a hashed password if all I have is another hash?
The Scenario
I have a client-side web application that bounces requests against a server-side API. For the sake of simplicity, every request must pass a username and password. This is similar to ...
3
votes
1answer
167 views
Exhausting the entropy of a hash function
In the case of password storage, consider the following:
I have an idea that one can exhaust the entropy of input to the MD5 function by using a 128 bit random value as the password (indeed, any hash ...
1
vote
2answers
80 views
What can a master password also be called?
When having a company computer that is full disk encrypted, it is common that the boss have a master password / backdoor, so the data always can be decrypted.
I have heard some call this for "scrow" ...
-1
votes
1answer
91 views
Pseudo-random Number generation for Passwords
i want to know what is the best pseudo-random number generation algorithm for passwords? for example my scenario is I have to generate 5K pseudo-random bits from a user-supplied password(6 ...
2
votes
1answer
109 views
Seed a PRNG with random data and a password
I'd like to combine a random key file with a password to generate a secure seed for a CSPRNG. The key file is assumed to have very high entropy, but the password will be whatever the user provides. ...
0
votes
1answer
770 views
Store user passwords in database using Java Application
I want to store user's password details in Database. My project is in Java. I want to know the best way of storing passwords and other inportant information like user
0
votes
1answer
142 views
password entropy calculation
I have the following password with a prescribed format: it starts with a fixed value of 111, followed by 2 random lower case letters and then lastly a random digit:
"111""2 Random lowercase ...
1
vote
1answer
189 views
What happens to the entropy of a password when you hash it?
For example, if the entropy of a password is 30 bits, what is the entropy of the password when you hash it with MD5?
5
votes
3answers
168 views
Stretching passwords for encrypting small files
I would like to know how to store a sensitive file; a credential of sorts. I want to password-protect it, obviously. It would be appropriate - in my application - to prompt the user for the password ...
0
votes
0answers
117 views
Password crackers in CUDA [closed]
Is there any good password crackers in CUDA. Is the version available free of John the ripper can be deployed in CUDA?
8
votes
2answers
355 views
Do I have to have a different salt for each password?
Should I use a different salt for each password?
In my system, there are no user names, only passwords. When a user logins in, he types in one or more passwords and the server compares the results ...
4
votes
2answers
738 views
Is there a way to make RC4 (ARCFOUR) secure, or is it completely broken?
I need a method to authenticate a process with another in order to establish interprocess communication between them, to prevent malicious processes from trying to hook onto the system. Currently I ...
2
votes
1answer
1k views
How do I store encrypted files on a web server and decrypt them locally?
I want to store files (images) on a public webserver and let users see them if they know a password. The server shouldn't have the unecrypted files and the server can only serve files, not perform ...
4
votes
1answer
211 views
Why does SRP-6a use k = H(N, g) instead of the k = 3 in SRP-6?
I've been reading up on the Secure Remote Pasword protocol (SRP). There are a couple different versions of the protocol (the original published version being designated SRP-3, with two subsequent ...
4
votes
2answers
187 views
Do MD5's weaknesses affect Oplop?
Oplop is an algorithm that generates account-specific passwords from a master password and user-chosen nickname (typically username@domain). From the website:
Concatenate the master password with ...
0
votes
2answers
129 views
Is stretching hash several times basically the same as bcrypt?
As I understand it, the main advantage of bcrypt is stretching so it becomes slower to crack overtime. But, is using a "good enough" algorithm (e.g., SHA-2 family) then stretching until it's slow ...
16
votes
6answers
893 views
Is there a secure cryptosystem that can be performed mentally?
I, myself, do not plan on getting into a situation where I would be unable to use a computer in order to communicate securely. However, I can think of many practical situations in which mental ...
4
votes
3answers
617 views
Do I have to recompute all hashes if I change the work factor in bcrypt?
The well-known article about why we should use bcrypt for hashing passwords mentions the work factor - some parameter to the algorithm that determines how long one hashing should be in terms of number ...
2
votes
2answers
163 views
Adaptive Hash Functions: How to tell how many iterations were used?
If an adaptive hash function like bcrypt or PBKDF2 is used in hashing passwords, the number of iterations used in the hashing process can be configured.
For a penetration tester or a malicious ...
3
votes
2answers
141 views
Can a “pattern” in a series of passwords be detected from their hashes (and maybe a single raw password)?
Let's say I'm a lazy user of a system with annoyingly frequent password change policies. I may have a "good" password I used initially that is only used for this system but since I have to change it ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Use of salt to hash a password
In a few implementations of hashed passwords, I have seen that the length of the random salt is chosen to be, say, 10 or "some constant". Is there any specific reason why the salt is chosen to have a ...
6
votes
2answers
335 views
Is bcrypt better than GnupPG's iterated+salted hashing method?
GnuPG has slow hash built-in in form of iterated+salted S2K.
Does it have disadvantages in comparance with bcrypt or scrypt? Is GnuPG's slow hash method easily automated in GPUs?
15
votes
3answers
226 views
What differentiates a password hash from a cryptographic hash besides speed?
I understand that password hashes like bcrypt have the principal property of taking a long time to run, but I'm wondering what if anything about password hashes make them superior to merely running a ...
