Security Basics mailing list archives

RE: Passwords in a disaster


From: Jeptha.Gibbs () jpmorgan com
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:18:04 -0500


Alex,

      In a true OMG, the building is gone situation, do you think that
would really work?  Is the bank located in the same city as the building
would you be able to access it, etc.

      A USB token held by that team, or utilizing a Card Reader at the DR
site and each member of the Team having the Password embedded in their IDs
via a Chip might be a cleaner solution.  The token can then be updated as
necessary as members of the team leave/lose IDs, etc.

J
____________________________________________________________________________


P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail


Jeptha M. Gibbs V


JPMorgan Chase | Investment Bank | Information Risk Management


277 Park Ave 24 Fl| ( GDP 622-1576| ( Ext. 212 622-1576| *
jeptha.gibbs () jpmorgan com





                                                                           
             "Ackley, Alex"                                                
             <aackley@epmgpc.c                                             
             om>                                                        To 
             Sent by:                  "Stephen Tanner"                    
             listbounce@securi         <stanner () leeclerk org>,             
             tyfocus.com               <security-basics () securityfocus com> 
                                                                        cc 
                                                                           
             01/24/2008 10:24                                      Subject 
             AM                        RE: Passwords in a disaster         
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           




Well it all depends on what you mean by a DR situation.  If you're
talking a full blown, OMG the building is gone type situation what we've
done is used a pair of secure USB keys.  They get swapped out on a
weekly basis into a local bank safety deposit box.

Each member of management and the security team have access to this box.
The USB Drive is encrypted with a known password to these team members.
Inside we hold a password protected access database file that contains
just the needed passwords to recover in this situation.  Along with docs
needed that lay out what needs to be restored, in what order and how to
do it.
The password to the access DB is known only to the members of the
security team.

Of course, all the passwords here are changed according to policy and
meet strict requirements.

It's not the most elegant of solutions, but in a fairly small
organization (under 10 managers and a 2 person security team) it works
well in testing and has an added benefit of being very low cost to
implement, keep going and test.

Alex Ackley, CISSP
Security Administrator
EPMG, PC

-----Original Message-----
From: listbounce () securityfocus com [mailto:listbounce () securityfocus com]
On Behalf Of Stephen Tanner
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 9:50 AM
To: security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: Passwords in a disaster

I'm trying to get a consensus on what people think is the best solution
to sending a shared password or passphrase in a DR situation where
phones are not a viable option.  Any thoughts?

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Stephen Tanner
Information Security Administrator
Network Support Services
Lee County Clerk of Courts
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=




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