Re: How to preserve password change date

At 06:10 AM 11/18/97 -0800, you wrote:
>At 06:36 PM 11/17/97 -0500, you wrote:
>>Booth,
>>
>>There is a suite of password APIs that allow you to retrieve the ENCRYPTED
>>value of a users password and then use that value to set the user's password
>>at a later date/time. Thus it is now possible to "retrieve" a user's
>>password. Notice that the original post did not want to see the unencrypted
>>value, which you cannot do.....maybe.....
>>
>>My biggest question is this: Does the word "PASSWORD" always resolve to the
>>same encrypted value? 
>Yes.
>
>If so, couldn't I retrieve the encrypted password, do
>>a reverse lookup into a table of plain to encrypted values and retrieve the
>>clear text password for the encrypted value? It may take me a few weeks of
>>machine time to build this table of clear to encrypted values, but it could
>>be worth it.
>
>Yes again. A 'dictionary hack' is now a much more feasable endeavor.  All
>the more reason for enforcing non-trivial passwords.

But where is, and who builds, this table? It doesn't exist on the system,
so you'd have to build it yourself (which _could_ be done).

OTOH, does the above-mentioned API return the encrypted value itself, or
some further-muddled version? You have to have the matching API to set the
password. I don't think it's as easy as it sounds—least I hope not!  :^)

Cheers

Vernon Hamberg
Systems Software Programmer
Old Republic National Title Insurance Company
400 Second Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55401
(612) 371-1111 x480


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