Password Security Best Practices

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Questions and Answers

Why is it dangerous for applications to store passwords as plain text?

  • Plain text passwords are difficult to read.
  • Plain text passwords offer better security.
  • Hackers can easily access usernames and passwords if they find the database. (correct)
  • Storing passwords as plain text saves storage space.

What is the recommended way to store passwords securely?

  • Using a hash function to convert the password into a unique string. (correct)
  • Storing passwords in plain text in a database.
  • Printing out the passwords and storing them in a safe.
  • Encrypting passwords with a simple algorithm.

How does hashing a password differ from storing it as plain text in a database?

  • Storing passwords as plain text is faster than hashing them.
  • Hashed passwords can be easily decrypted by attackers.
  • Hashed passwords provide better security as they are irreversible. (correct)
  • Plain text passwords are shorter in length compared to hashed passwords.

Why does the text mention that hashes are a 'one way trip'?

<p>Once hashed, a password cannot be retrieved back to its original form. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What happens if an attacker gains access to a database storing plain text passwords?

<p>The attacker can uncover everyone's usernames and passwords easily. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What advantage do hashes offer compared to plain text when storing passwords?

<p>Hashes ensure that each password has a unique representation that cannot be reverted back. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What kind of attack involves programmatically stepping through every possible combination of a password offline?

<p>Brute force attack (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What do attackers use in a dictionary attack to try to find passwords?

<p>Common words from dictionaries (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which method involves taking advantage of external high-speed processors for password cracking?

<p>GPU attack (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of a rainbow table in password cracking?

<p>Quickly searching for passwords based on precomputed hashes (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What type of attack would an attacker be performing if they were trying to match hashes against a list of precomputed hash values?

<p>Rainbow attack (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a common strategy used by attackers during a dictionary attack?

<p>Performing letter substitutions (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which type of attack generally leads to an account being locked out due to multiple incorrect password attempts?

<p>Brute force attack (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

'1234' is an example of what kind of password commonly used in weak security scenarios?

<p>'dictionary' password (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What method do attackers use to find common passwords like 'ninja' or 'dragon' after performing a dictionary attack?

<p>Search through rainbow tables (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the main characteristic of a cryptographic algorithm mentioned in the text?

<p>It cannot be reversed (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What hashing algorithm is specifically highlighted in the text?

<p>SHA-256 (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Why is it impossible to restore the original password from its hash?

<p>The original password is not stored within the hash (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What type of attack involves trying some common passwords on multiple accounts?

<p>Spraying attack (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Why do attackers use spraying attacks instead of brute force attacks?

<p>To avoid generating alarms and account lockouts (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a strong indicator that somebody is attempting unauthorized access to an account?

<p>Triggering alarms and alerts (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In a brute force attack, what is the method used to determine a password?

<p>Try every possible combination until a match is found (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How do attackers usually obtain usernames and password hashes from a system?

<p>Downloading the password file from the system (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of hashing passwords in a system?

<p>To encrypt passwords for secure storage (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What differentiates a spraying attack from a brute force attack?

<p>Spraying attack involves trying common passwords, while brute force tries all possible combinations. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of including a salt when storing passwords?

<p>To prevent rainbow table attacks (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Why do different rainbow tables need to be created for different applications or operating systems?

<p>Due to different methods used to create hashes (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What happens if two users have the same password but are using salted hashing?

<p>The hash stored in the table is different for each user (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What was the significance of 'collection number one' in January 2019?

<p>It was a large scale data breach compromising millions of accounts (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How does salting passwords impact the effectiveness of pre-built tables like rainbow tables?

<p>Salting makes rainbow tables ineffective (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What would be the drawback of an attacker when passwords are salted?

<p>The attacker faces difficulties due to random salts (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How does salting affect identical passwords of different users?

<p>It converts them to different hashes (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What information does 'haveibeenpwned.com' provide to users?

<p>'Have I been part of any data breaches' information (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

'Collection number one' included over 1.1 billion unique what?

<p>'Collection number one' emails (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Besides preventing rainbow table attacks, what other reason is mentioned for using salts?

<p>To differentiate between users with same password (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

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