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At What Point Does Storing Passwords in Plaintext Become Criminally Negligent

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday April 08 2018, @02:07PM   Printer-friendly
from the easier-to-check-that-way dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2018/04/another-day-another-breach-at-what-point-does-storing-passwords-in-plaintext-become-criminally-negligent/

The third largest breach ever just happened in Finland. Passwords were stored in plaintext. At T-Mobile Austria, they explain that of course they store the password in plaintext, but they have so good security so it's nothing to worry about. At what point does this become criminally negligent?

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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday April 08 2018, @08:25PM (15 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday April 08 2018, @08:25PM (#664057) Homepage Journal

    Call it what you like, someone has to sit in the big chair and make the hard decisions. And they're going to want paid and paid well for it.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday April 08 2018, @11:36PM (1 child)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Sunday April 08 2018, @11:36PM (#664083) Journal

    Incorrect. There does not have to be a Big Chair. It is possible for an organization to operate without singling out one person to be The Leader. Airlines have learned that "the captain is God" is not as effective as giving the other pilots more input and discretion. Too many times, a crash happened because there was more going on than any one person, no matter how talented, could handle.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @01:56AM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday April 09 2018, @01:56AM (#664125) Homepage Journal

      Possible != desirable. Get more than three people together and they won't even be able to decide what pizza toppings to get in a timely manner. One person is best where the job can be done by one person.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @01:47AM (11 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 09 2018, @01:47AM (#664118) Journal

    Call it what you like, someone has to sit in the big chair and make the hard decisions. And they're going to want paid and paid well for it.

    And you deny this needs to come with the responsibility for one's (CxO) actions, responsibility including jail time for malfeasance and/or gross negligence?
    Seriously, dude? How this plays together with your declared libertarian streak?

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @01:53AM (10 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday April 09 2018, @01:53AM (#664124) Homepage Journal

      It has nothing to do with liberty is how. The board of directors and the CEO are the only ones involved in his employment contract. If the board wants to write shitty contracts without penalties for shitty performance, that's their business. If I were their shareholder I'd damned sure make it my business as well but it's nobody else's.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @02:22AM (9 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 09 2018, @02:22AM (#664144) Journal

        And if your are their customer? Or a person affected by their "dump of externalities"?
        Like polluting your drinking water [onearth.org] to keep up with the Chinese appetite for spam or delivering it by means that make it toxic [wikipedia.org]?
        Or even lobbying and making a profit from poisoning you [nih.gov]?

        Really, you don't see anything wrong with the CxO's business decisions in those cases?

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @02:57AM (8 children)

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday April 09 2018, @02:57AM (#664159) Homepage Journal

          Then you sue. Or press charges. Or both.

          Illegal acts are illegal acts. Ordering illegal acts is also a prosecutable crime, regardless of the letters by your name (unless those letters spell "Sen.", "Rep.", or the like). If you don't like that some things are not currently illegal, there is a proper process already in place to deal with that.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.

          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @04:08AM (7 children)

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 09 2018, @04:08AM (#664186) Journal

            Then you sue. Or press charges. Or both

            Apart from "Good luck with that", how often you've seen any CxO made to pay over negligent or criminal behavior?

            Flint water crisis [wikipedia.org]:

            The legal doctrines of sovereign immunity (which protects the state from suit) and official immunity (which in Michigan shields top government officials from personal liability, even in cases of gross negligence) resulted in comparatively few lawsuits being filed in the Flint case

            Pig farm pollution cases [chicagotribune.com] - only one example of suits-leading-nowhere, you can find heaps of others:

            Instead, Irlam let hog muck fill the 8-foot-deep pits beneath his slotted concrete floors until it rose up and soaked the pigs' hoofs and bellies. Then he loaded the portable manure tank farmers often call a "honey wagon" and began dumping waste downhill.
            ...
            The Illinois attorney general filed a civil lawsuit to collect penalties and cleanup costs from Irlam but abandoned the case in 2012 after Irlam filed for bankruptcy, saying he was unable to pay numerous mortgage and credit card debts. That decision surprised bankruptcy experts, who said the state could easily have pursued Irlam's $64,000 state salary.

            Lead plumbing lobby? Never received even a slap-on-the-wrist, they arranged the laws and regulations for ages [nih.gov]

            Federal guidelines and specifications also sanctioned lead pipes at least into the 1950s. Water system engineers were debating the pros and cons of lead at least into the 1940s. Perhaps most telling was the active campaign carried on by the lead and pipe manufacturers’ trade organization, the LIA. To maintain sales of lead pipe, the LIA lobbied the government at all levels and targeted the people who both designed and installed water distribution systems with outreach and educational material and other resources. The association carried on its promotional campaign into the 1970s.
            ...
            Despite a voluminous literature on the dangers of lead water pipes, and based on such knowledge, a national trend to restrict and prohibit the use of lead for water distribution, the lead industry continued its promotion and sale of lead pipes for several decades. Note also that the LIA and its corporate members carried out a similar campaign to promote lead paint long after its hazards became known14,15 and are currently defending themselves against lawsuits by dozens of cities and states. In fact, at least two LIA members, the National Lead Company and Eagle Picher, manufactured both lead paint and lead pipes. Although the use of these products has long since ended, our cities and towns, and society as a whole, are still paying the price.

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

            • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @04:31AM (6 children)

              by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday April 09 2018, @04:31AM (#664190) Homepage Journal

              ...how often you've seen any CxO made to pay over negligent or criminal behavior?

              That's an "enforce the laws on the books" problem not a "we need new laws" problem.

              Lead plumbing lobby?

              Stop voting for lizards just because the wrong lizard might win if you don't. If you want honest, or something that at least looks like honesty in dim lighting, representatives, don't vote for dishonest ones.

              --
              My rights don't end where your fear begins.

              • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @04:50AM (5 children)

                by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 09 2018, @04:50AM (#664198) Journal

                Good advises.
                When do you (all) start?

                --
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

                • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @05:04AM (4 children)

                  by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday April 09 2018, @05:04AM (#664204) Homepage Journal

                  Reforming the system is not one of my goals. I don't believe it can be achieved. I'm working the "burn it down and start over" angle.

                  --
                  My rights don't end where your fear begins.

                  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @05:09AM (3 children)

                    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 09 2018, @05:09AM (#664208) Journal

                    I'm working the "burn it down and start over" angle.

                    While angling for fish? Seems quite a subtle way of being subversive

                    (grin)

                    --
                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

                    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @06:26AM (2 children)

                      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday April 09 2018, @06:26AM (#664237) Homepage Journal

                      Heh, being able to hunt and fish could very well become valuable skills in the not too distant future. Plus, fishing relaxes me and I don't see any need to get all stressed out just because a shitty government is in need of toppling. If the US government can manage it, anyone should be able to.

                      --
                      My rights don't end where your fear begins.

                      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @06:33AM (1 child)

                        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 09 2018, @06:33AM (#664247) Journal

                        Heh, being able to hunt and fish could very well become valuable skills in the not too distant future.

                        Or useless skills due to the extinction of any life on the hunting/fishing grounds by the local hog farming baron.

                        --
                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by archfeld on Monday April 09 2018, @02:09AM

    by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Monday April 09 2018, @02:09AM (#664134) Journal

    So why don't they make the hard decisions ? Instead they make the profit, reap the rewards and deny the responsibility all in one breath.

    --
    For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge