The Domino Effect of Password Reuse

 

“Password security is an essential form of user authentication both

on the Internet and for internal organizational computing systems.”

 

 

Team 5: Megan Donofrio, Mike Magnell, Derek Johnson, Joe Snigiel

 

Password: An arbitrary string of characters chosen by a user or a system administrator and used to authenticate the user when he attempts to log in, in order to prevent unauthorized access to his account.

 

How are hackers stealing passwords?

  • Keystroke-capture software
  • Use of false banking websites to gain access to online banking accounts
  • Copying password files
  • Public access computers
  • Password-cracking tools

 

 

How are hackers using stolen passwords?

  • Infiltration of Stanford University and NASA’s Jet propulsion Laboratory
  • To gain access to online banking accounts/Bank fraud
  • Credit card purchases from online stores
  • Grade Changes- Hofstra
  • Admissions officer at Princeton gained access to admission decisions at Yale
  • Security analyst in So. Korea used a stolen password from a rival to make a $22 million illegal trade.

 

Ways to avoid getting your password stolen?

  • Do not access ANY important accounts on public-access computers
    • Bank accounts, E-Mail, or COIN.
    • Especially do not access accounts where your credit card number is saved for “Quick Check-Out” purchases
  • Use numbers and symbols in your passwords
  • When using letters, do not use a word that would be in the dictionary, instead use a series of letters
  • NO birthdays, address’, names in family
  • Avoid using the same password for your Online banking website and a website you rarely visit.
    • This is because if the website you rarely visit is hacked, the hacker can use those passwords on all other sites you visit regularly

 

“Like dominos, when a weak system falls prey to hackers, information will be revealed that will aid the hackers in infiltrating other systems, potentially leading to the fall of many other systems, including the systems with far better security than the first. Until these problems are addressed, there remains a very real threat to the fabric of our increasingly electronic society.”