Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Latest NIST Guidelines on Password Policies

posted by martyb on Friday August 19 2016, @07:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the keeping-things-to-yourself dept.

Bill Dimm writes:

The latest NIST (United States National Institute for Standards and Technology) guidelines on password policies recommend a minimum of 8 characters. Perhaps more interesting is what they recommend against. They recommend against allowing password hints, requiring the password to contain certain characters (like numeric digits or upper-case characters), using knowledge-based authentication (e.g., what is your mother's maiden name?), using SMS (Short Message Service) for two-factor authentication, or expiring passwords after some amount of time. They also provide recommendations on how password data should be stored.

[Ed. Note: Contrary to common practice, I would advocate reading the entire linked article so we can have an informed discussion on the many recommendations in the proposal. What has been your experience with password policies? Do the recommendations rectify problems you have seen? Is it reasonable to expect average users to follow the recommendations? What have they left out?]

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Latest NIST Guidelines on Password Policies | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 58 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Saturday August 20 2016, @12:33AM

    by stormwyrm (717) on Saturday August 20 2016, @12:33AM (#390358) Journal
    I feel silly, there are 62 possibilities per alphanumeric character. That doesn't change the argument in the slightest though. One character is 5.95 bits of entropy. Eight characters is 2.18×1014 possible passwords (47.63 bits of entropy). Restricting the last character to being a digit makes for seven characters (41.65 bits) plus a digit (3.32 bits) for 45.00 bits of entropy or 3.52×1013 possible passwords. At a random position that's seven characters (41.65 bits) plus a digit (3.32 bits) at one of eight possible random positions (exactly 3 bits) for 48.00 bits of entropy or 2.82×1014 possible passwords, a rather insignificant change. One capital letter at the start (26 possibilities, 4.70 bits), 6 random characters (35.72 bits) and a digit at the end (3.32 bits) makes 43.74 bits total or 1.48×1013 possible passwords.
    --
    Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2