Re: password length and required reset

[randy <marchany () VT EDU>]

I heartily recommend using Stanford's new password requirements found at
https://uit.stanford.edu/service/accounts/passwords/quickguide. It makes a
lot of sense and is fairly easy for users to follow. One of my analysts has
placed in the top 3 of the Crack Me If You Can for the past couple of years
and he's been advocating that longer passwords are more secure than
"complex" passwords. The Stanford model seems to follow that advice. We'll
be moving toward that model in the next 18 months.

Randy Marchany
VA Tech IT Security Office and Lab
""

On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 10:19 AM, Brad Judy <brad.judy () cu edu> wrote:

> Most of the services you mention offer opt-in, or mandatory, multifactor
> authentication and many have pretty advanced automated systems for
> detecting suspicious logins/activities.
>
> That said, the only reason I like limited password life for our industry
> is because it ensures people don’t use the same passwords for our systems
> as third-party systems.  If you have to change your password once every
> 6-12 months at your EDU, it’s unlikely you run around changing your
> password elsewhere to match.
>
> At its root, password expiration is a control to address an undetected,
> unrepeatable compromise of credentials.  If the attack is detected, you can
> force a password reset.  If the attack is repeatable (like phishing or a
> keylogger), then the attacker can get the new password as well.  Some of
> the origins are in the idea of an attacker stealing your password store and
> cracking it, but these days the more common version of the threat is
> someone stealing an external password store, cracking it and then using the
> email/password combo to attack their email account (and related accounts).
>
> If you want to have immortal passwords, then ask yourself what detection
> and response capabilities you have, as well as your options for stronger
> authentication mechanisms where appropriate.
>
> Brad Judy
>
> Information Security Officer
> Office of Information Security
> University of Colorado
> 1800 Grant Street, Suite 300
> Denver, CO  80203
> Office: (303) 860-4293
> Fax: (303) 860-4302
> www.cu.edu <http://www.cu.edu/>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 10/10/16, 7:09 AM, "The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv on
> behalf of Mike Cunningham" <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU on behalf of
> mike.cunningham () PCT EDU> wrote:
>
>     Thanks for the feedback.
>
>     How do you counter the argument that no other online service that
> requires passwords have any set time limit on a password, and they are
> sites with much more sensitive information. Bank sites, credit card sites,
> amazon, paypal, gmail, yahoo, Hotmail, outlook.com phone companies,
> Netflix, etc. I can't think of any service that I have myself that requires
> me to change a password on a regular basis and that is how students view
> us, as just another online service.  I am 100% in favor of employees
> needing to reset a password since their access gives them access to other
> peoples data but for students they only have access to their own data so
> password mismanagement only puts their own data at risk, just like on any
> of those other services.
>
>     Mike Cunningham
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:
> SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Boyd, Daniel
>     Sent: Monday, October 10, 2016 8:42 AM
>     To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
>     Subject: Re: [SECURITY] password length and required reset
>
>     You are correct in thinking that 12 characters will help.  If you run
> passwords through most any analyzer, that 12th character adds a tremendous
> amount of time to the decryption process... but will not help if common
> phrases, titles, and sequences are used.
>
>     We recently moved all faculty, staff and service accounts to a 90-day
> password reset cycle, with a history of 6.  We are considering a minimum
> password age of 2 days, but have not implemented that change yet.  We
> recommend the password to be a minimum of 8, but no longer than 13
> characters (any longer and Office365 complains, at least as of August of
> this year) and cannot contain three consecutive characters of their
> username.  It also must have a capital letter and a number or symbol.
>
>     It has taken a number of years to push this policy amid lots of
> grumbling from staff and faculty.  We got buy-in from administration by
> explaining our reasons for implementing, we communicated the change
> effectively to the community and so far, have not had significant
> backlash.  We considered having two different policies for staff and
> faculty, but decided it was in everyone's best interest to enforce the
> stricter policy (whether they believed it or not).
>
>     Students have all the same requirements except the max age for their
> password is 180 days.  No issues there either, as this is explained at
> orientation.  While it frustrates a tiny percentage, it is an acceptably
> low percentage.
>
>     The key is effective communication and simple explanation of the
> reasons why this is important.
>
>     Good luck with any changes you make.
>
>     Dan
>
>
>     Daniel H. Boyd (94C)
>     Senior Network Architect
>     Network Operations
>     Information Security Advisory Group Chair Berry College
>     Phone: 706-236-1750
>     Fax:     706-238-5824
>
>     There are two rules to follow with your account passwords:
>     1. NEVER SEND YOUR PASSWORD VIA EMAIL (TO ANYONE)!!!!!
>     2. If unsure, consult rule #1
>
>
>
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: Mike Cunningham [mailto:mike.cunningham () PCT EDU]
>     Sent: Friday, October 07, 2016 3:29 PM
>     Subject: password length and required reset
>
>     We current have a password length rule of 6 with a password expiration
> of 180 days. We are considering changing that to a length of 12 with a
> recommendation to use a pass phrase, and no expiration. Students can want
> to can change their password daily or never. We believe the longer length
> requirement will make the password so much stronger that the password reset
> is no longer needed. This change is for students ONLY. Employees will still
> have a password recent requirement.
>
>     Thanks
>
>
>     Mike Cunningham
>     VP of Information Technology Services/CIO Pennsylvania College of
> Technology