Password Management and Security

Password Management

• Password Policies:
  • Length: minimum 8-12 characters
  • Complexity: mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special characters
  • Expiration: 60-90 days
  • History: prevent reuse of previous passwords
• Password Storage:
  • Hashing: one-way encryption, storing hashed passwords instead of plaintext
  • Salting: adding a random value to the password before hashing
• Password Cracking:
  • Types: brute force, dictionary, rainbow table attacks
  • Prevention: use strong passwords, implement rate limiting, and account lockout policies

Firewalls

• Types:
  • Network-based: monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic
  • Host-based: monitors and controls incoming and outgoing traffic on a single host
• Firewall Rules:
  • Default deny: denies all traffic unless explicitly allowed
  • Default allow: allows all traffic unless explicitly denied
• Firewall Configurations:
  • Whitelisting: only allows specific traffic to pass through
  • Blacklisting: blocks specific traffic from passing through

Access Control

• Access Control Models:
  • Discretionary Access Control (DAC): access based on user identity
  • Mandatory Access Control (MAC): access based on user clearance level
  • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): access based on user role
• Access Control Lists (ACLs):
  • Define permissions for users or groups to access resources
  • Can be used to implement DAC, MAC, and RBAC models
• Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA):
  • Authentication: verifies user identity
  • Authorization: determines access to resources
  • Accounting: tracks and logs user activity

Cryptography

• Types of Cryptography:
  • Symmetric encryption: uses the same key for encryption and decryption
  • Asymmetric encryption: uses a pair of keys for encryption and decryption
• Cryptography Algorithms:
  • AES (Advanced Encryption Standard): symmetric encryption algorithm
  • RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman): asymmetric encryption algorithm
• Cryptographic Hash Functions:
  • SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm 256): one-way encryption, used for data integrity
  • MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm 5): one-way encryption, used for data integrity (though considered insecure)

Password Management

• Password policies require a minimum of 8-12 characters in length, with a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special characters.
• Passwords should expire every 60-90 days and have a history to prevent reuse of previous passwords.
• Password storage involves hashing, which is a one-way encryption, and salting, which adds a random value to the password before hashing.
• Password cracking can be prevented by using strong passwords, implementing rate limiting, and account lockout policies.
• Types of password cracking attacks include brute force, dictionary, and rainbow table attacks.

Firewalls

• Network-based firewalls monitor and control incoming and outgoing network traffic.
• Host-based firewalls monitor and control incoming and outgoing traffic on a single host.
• Firewall rules can have a default deny policy, which denies all traffic unless explicitly allowed, or a default allow policy, which allows all traffic unless explicitly denied.
• Firewall configurations can use whitelisting, which only allows specific traffic to pass through, or blacklisting, which blocks specific traffic from passing through.

Access Control

• Discretionary Access Control (DAC) grants access based on user identity.
• Mandatory Access Control (MAC) grants access based on user clearance level.
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) grants access based on user role.
• Access Control Lists (ACLs) define permissions for users or groups to access resources and can be used to implement DAC, MAC, and RBAC models.
• Authentication verifies user identity, authorization determines access to resources, and accounting tracks and logs user activity.

Cryptography

• Symmetric encryption uses the same key for encryption and decryption.
• Asymmetric encryption uses a pair of keys for encryption and decryption.
• AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a symmetric encryption algorithm.
• RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) is an asymmetric encryption algorithm.
• SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm 256) is a one-way encryption algorithm used for data integrity.
• MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm 5) is a one-way encryption algorithm used for data integrity, but it is considered insecure.