Cracking Dictionaries: What You Need to Know
Passwords are the standard authentication factor across sites and systems, but how we deal with passwords has changed over time. Today, password hashing is a critical security measure organizations should leverage to protect passwords. Because many organizations leverage password hashing to protect passwords, cracking dictionaries have evolved to crack those ... Read More
Password Blacklists: Do They Provide Enough Protection?
A recent InfoSecurity Magazine article on password security posed a critical question, “A password blacklist should contain all of the passwords that a hacker will use to gain access to a system, but how many is the right number?” The answer is impossible to quantify as numerous breaches occur on ... Read More
Recommendations For HIPAA Password Compliance
What is HIPAA Password Compliance and How Healthcare Organizations Can Comply with these Authentication Guidelines. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was introduced in 1996 but has become increasingly prominent in recent years due to the rise of data breaches in the industry. Data breaches have been on the ... Read More
The Pros and Cons of Password Rotation Policies
Why Password Rotation Policies May No Longer Be Fit-For-Purpose In the Digital Age Forced password resets have been a common feature of password policies for a long time and are still widely used. However, Microsoft and the NIST password guidelines, recommend doing away with password rotation policies, claiming they don’t ... Read More
Introducing 1-Click NIST Password Standard Compliance & More
Introducing one-click NIST password standard compliance, user reporting which outlines users who are using compromised passwords, and root password detection to prevent users from using root passwords. Microsoft’s Active Directory is used widely across companies and industries throughout the world and unfortunately, it is one of the key targets for ... Read More
What is Exposed Password Screening?
Exposed password screening is the process of checking currently used passwords against passwords that have been exposed in a publicly known data breach. Once these passwords are exposed, they are considered to be compromised passwords. In 2017, the National Institute of Standards and Technology updated the NIST password guidelines, recommending ... Read More
Rethinking Digital Hygiene
With fears of global viruses escalating daily, physical hygiene is in the spotlight. The importance of handwashing regularly with soap and water is a critical step to prevent the spread of many infectious diseases. But what about our digital health and digital hygiene? When it comes to digital hygiene, we ... Read More
Preventing Context-Specific Passwords in Active Directory
Savvy cybercriminals will attempt to use context-specific passwords to gain access to Active Directory in targeted attacks. They know that: Companies that have headquarters in Boston will be more likely to have employee passwords that include “GoPatriots” due to the New England Patriots Since many organizations enforce quarterly forced password ... Read More
Preventing Common Passwords in Active Directory
Preventing common passwords in Active Directory is critical for protecting sensitive employee, user, and customer accounts. Why Should Organizations Screen for Regularly-Used Passwords? Many employees use weak passwords and are completely unaware of it. They can’t imagine their specific password is a common password that’s being chosen by other people ... Read More
Blocking Expected and Similar Passwords in Active Directory
Most employees will create or reuse passwords that are expected or similar to previous passwords. This can be expected passwords in the form of a root password that gets changed by just a few characters or even just capitalization. Once again, attackers know that this is a common practice on ... Read More
