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Special Forums Cybersecurity Two Factor Authentication – Best for the UNIX/Linux Server Security Post 302998267 by bakunin on Sunday 28th of May 2017 06:21:06 PM
Old 05-28-2017
Quote:
Originally Posted by reve-secure
What is your thinking..??
OK, I'll have a take at it. A word of caution up front, though: we are a discussion forum. If you are genuinely interested in a discussion about security matters you are welcome whatever will make your stay here more enjoyable you may ask for. If, on the opposite, you think that just because you got some answer here you can use us as a free advertisement vehicle - think twice. You will be banned faster than you can spell "2FA" and we will close this thread after writing some rather negative comments about the business practices of your company (yes, we are well aware that you seem to represent a company - that is absolutely OK with us as long as you abide by the rules). These comments will stay here and will probably not have an advertising but rather the opposite effect. So, it is in your own as well as your companies interest that we get along fine.

Now, after this long introduction, lets get to the theme of the thread:

I think there are some misconceptions about "security" in general and UNIX/Linux security in particular. First, there is the "much helps much" misconception. If a 6-character password is good, then a 8-character password must be better. Or maybe would 12-characters be even better yet? And if changing the password regularly is good, wouldn't changing it more often be even better?

The usual outcome is: everybody needs to have a 12-character password with at least 7 special characters, one for every system and has to change it every other day, otherwise the account gets locked. This is so secure that it usually ends with most people having a piece of paper with their passwords under the keyboard - little unknown fact: nobody is able to memorise such password-monsters anew every second day.

Second: the "compliance"-fallacy. Instead of measuring "security" most often a system is tested to be "compliant" against some arbitrary standard, usually set forth by someone with no idea about the OS. I once had a customer who had a password rule that any password had to consist of at least three out of the four character classes: upper case, lower case, numbers, special chars.

Then they needed to audit and in the security standard it was declared that a "secure password" would consist of at least two of the character classes "upper case", "lower case" and "numbers". So, in fact they already had a system in place that guaranteed more complex passwords than were asked for. Guess what - this resulted in a "security finding" and they had to water down their rules to be "compliant". I leave it to the imagination of the reader if the purpose of security was served well with this.

Finally, and this is related to the first mentioned problem: if entering a password (or doing whatever else instead) is good, wouldn't be entering it twice be even better? When i log on to the customers site i work for right now, i have to enter: the password to log on to the client computer, then the passowrd again when i open the mail client, the the password again for the Jabber tool they are using. I might be mistaken but: let's suppose i obtained the password fraudulently - would entering the compromised password thrice instead of once slow me down in my criminal activity one bit?

bakunin
 

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sec_create_db(1m)														 sec_create_db(1m)

NAME
sec_create_db - registry database creation utility SYNOPSIS
sec_create_db {-master | -slave} -my[name] my_server_name [-cr[eator] creator_name] [-cu[nix_id] creator_unix_id] [-g[roup_low_id] g_unix_id] [-k[eyseed] keyseed] [-ma[x_unix_id] max_unix_id] [-o[rg_low_unix_id] o_unix_id] [-pa[ssword] default_password] [-p[erson_low_unix_id] p_unix_id] [-u[uid cell_uuid] [-v[erbose]] OPTIONS
Specifies whether the database for the master replica should be created (-master) or a database for a slave replica should be created (-slave). All other sec_create_db options can be used with the -master option. Only the -myname, -keyseed, and -verbose options can be used with the -slave option. Specifies the name that will be used by the Directory Service to locate the machine on which the cell's Secu- rity Server is running. Specifies the principal name of the initial privileged user of the registry database (known as the "registry cre- ator"). Specifies the UNIX ID of the initial privileged user of the registry database. If you do not enter the UNIX ID, it is assigned dynamically. Specifies the starting point for UNIX IDs automatically generated by the Security Service when groups are added with the rgy_edit command. Specifies a character string used to seed the random key generator in order to create the master key for the database you are creating. It should be string that cannot be easily guessed. The master key is used to encrypt all account passwords. Each instance of a replica (master or slave) has its own master key. You can change the master key using the sec_admin command. Specifies the highest UNIX ID that can be assigned to a principal, group, or organization. Specifies the starting point for UNIX IDs automatically gen- erated by the Security Service when organizations are added with the rgy_edit command. The default password assigned to the accounts cre- ated by sec_create_db, including the account for the registry creator. If you do not specify a default password, -dce- is used. (Note that the hosts/local_host/self none none, krbtgt/cell_name none none, and nobody none none accounts are not assigned the default password, but instead a randomly generated password.) Specifies the starting point for UNIX IDs automatically generated by the Security Service when principals are added with the rgy_edit command. Specifies the cell's UUID. If you do not enter this UUID, it is assigned dynamically. Specifies that sec_create_db runs in verbose mode and displays all activity. DESCRIPTION
The sec_create_db tool creates new master and slave databases in dcelocal/var/security/rgy_data on the machine from which sec_create_db is run. Normally, these databases are created only once by the system configuration tool, dce_config. However, you can use sec_create_db if you need to re-create the master or a slave databse from scratch. You must be root to invoke sec_create_db. The sec_create_db -master option creates the master database on the machine on which it is run. This database is initialized with names and accounts, some of them reserved. You must use the rgy_edit command to populate the database with objects and accounts. When the master registry database is created, default ACL entries for registry objects are also created. These entries give the most priv- ileged permission set to the principal named in the -cr[eator] option. If the principal is not one of the reserved names and accounts, sec_create_db adds it as a new principal and adds an account for that new principal. If the -cr option is not used, root is the creator. The sec_create_db -slave option creates a slave database on the machine on which it is run. This command creates a stub database on the local node in dcelocal/var/security/rgy_data and adds the newly created replica to the master's replica list. The master then marks the replica to be initialized when a Security Server is started on the slave's node. The sec_create_db command also creates a registry configuration file, named dcelocal/etc/security/pe_site, that contains the network address of the machine on which the database is created. This file supplies the binding address of the secd master server if the Naming Service is not available. FILES
The file containing the network address of the machine on which the security database is created. The directory in which the registry database files are stored. RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: secd(1m), sec_admin(1m) sec_create_db(1m)
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