Re: Interesting Research

["Barton, Robert W." <bartonrt () LEWISU EDU>]

Always error on the side of paranoia.  Your gut feels are good.

Robert W. Barton
Executive Director of Information Security and Policy
Lewis University
One University Parkway
Romeoville, IL  60446-2200
815-836-5663

From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> On Behalf Of Laverty, Patrick
Sent: Tuesday, April 2, 2019 3:57 PM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Interesting Research

I would also say to not participate in this research.

If you really want to test whether your students are adhering, then do some password cracking of the stored hashes. Or 
at a minimum, hash some really weak passwords, and compare those hashes to what your students are using. And if you 
want to know if some of your students have chosen weak passwords, the answer is yes. :)



On Tue, Apr 2, 2019 at 4:11 PM King, Ronald A. <raking () nsu edu<mailto:raking () nsu edu>> wrote:
Fellow security pros,

I have an interesting research request come in my inbox today. A researcher wants to setup a portal for students to 
self-register with a username and password. The kicker is passwords will be stored in plain text and collected. The 
premise is to gauge whether students are actually adhering to suggested practices in password design.

My first reaction is “(heck) no,” but I realize I may be overreacting. So, I decided to see if anyone has dealt with 
this kind of research and how you handled it.

While I see the value in the research, my security senses tell me students will be using their standard password they 
use for everything. Thus big risk.

Feel free to contact me directly.

Thank you,
Ron

Ronald King
Chief Information Security Officer

Office of Information Technology
(757) 823-2916 (Office)
raking () nsu edu<mailto:raking () nsu edu>
www.nsu.edu<http://www.nsu.edu/>
@NSUCISO (Twitter)
[NSU_logo_horiz_tag_4c - Smaller]


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