Re: Interesting Research

[John McCabe <0000009ba94df455-dmarc-request () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>]

Hi Ron,

Like you, I would say "heck no!"

It may be a fool's errand but this researcher may not be familiar with the
research domain. If they are just entering this field, you may need to be
attentive with what they are doing on campus.

See if they have read "Do Users’ Perceptions of Password Security Match
Reality?," https://www.blaseur.com/papers/chi16-pwperceptions.pdf, and if
so what are their thoughts on the methodology. It sidesteps recording
active user passwords and considers human perceptions on password strength.

Another important paper to gauge their familiarity would be "The Security
of Modern Password Expiration: An Algorithmic Framework and Empirical
Analysis," http://www.cs.unc.edu/~reiter/papers/2010/CCS.pdf, which
questions password expiration.

A third paper would be "Testing Metrics for Password Creation Policies by
Attacking Large Sets of Revealed Passwords,"
https://www.cs.umd.edu/~jkatz/security/downloads/passwords_revealed-weir.pdf,
which questions entropy-based password creation strength tests such as NIST
SP 800-63 used to.

Datasets are crucial in research. It is vitally important that researchers
do not invest in research problems where the datasets are risky,
incomplete, erroneous. The National Science Foundation requires researchers
to be very mindful with respect to human test subjects,
https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/human.jsp. Any identifying information
(which the password may) OR any data that would reasonably risk harm (which
may be true if the user reuses passwords) is not allowed. This research may
not be funded by the NSF but the NSF policy is reasonable to most people
and likely your local civil court. If this researcher acts carefree to any
of this, you should alert your institution's general counsel and this
researcher's supervising dean.

Regards,
John


On Tue, Apr 2, 2019 at 4:11 PM King, Ronald A. <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
>
> www.nsu.edu
>
> @NSUCISO (Twitter)
>
> [image: NSU_logo_horiz_tag_4c - Smaller]


-- 
*John McCabe *

*Senior Information Security Manager & Data Protection OfficerInformation
Technology Services*
[image: Manhattan College Logo/Shield]
Riverdale, NY 10471
Phone: 718-862-7926
john.mccabe01 () manhattan edu
www.manhattan.edu