RE: Security - Scripting Passwords

["Steve Martinson" <SMartinson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pat and Rob @ Dekko,

Thanks for your replies on this!

Best regards,

Steven W. Martinson, CISSP, CISM
Manager of OutLink Security
Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.
7800 Willowchase Blvd.
Houston, TX.  77070
     voice              281.517.8000
     external fax       281.517.8157
     internal ext       471800

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message: 5
date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 17:16:29 -0600
from: Patrick Botz <botz@xxxxxxxxxx>
subject: Re: Security - Scripting Passwords


Don't even have OS/400 passwords. Use Kerberos authentication and set
your OS/400 passwords to *NONE. No scripting, no caching, no password
flows, no password policies to worry about with respect to your OS/400
passwords. See documentation on SSO, Kerberos, EIM.

Patrick Botz
Senior Technical Staff Member
eServer Security Architect
(507) 253-0917, T/L 553-0917
email: botz@xxxxxxxxxx

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message: 9
date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:12:56 -0500
from: rob@xxxxxxxxx
subject: Re: Security - Scripting Passwords

Several problems
1)  password expiration policy
2)  passing of the password in the clear across the wire
3)  storing the password in a file or data area

Do not store passwords with the scripts.  If writing a sockets based 
application shudders you, then append the user id and password with the 
rest of the script into QTEMP.

1)  Does that password policy only apply to 'real' iSeries users?  If so

then a good ftp exit point program could use a file of users, or a ldap 
entry, to convert the 'dummy' user to a real iSeries user.  We do this 
with our custom exit point.  Although we are looking at using ldap.
Hmm, 
I wonder if any of the exit point vendors support ldap yet?
2)  Can this be worked around using SSL or some such animal?
3)  Storing the password in a file or data area.  You could store it 
encrypted in one of these animals.  Then any program that reads it would

have to decrypt it.  I've written some crude encryption routines that I 
use when sending passwords across the wire for password propagation 
(QPWDVLDPGM).

Rob Berendt
-- 
Group Dekko Services, LLC
Dept 01.073
PO Box 2000
Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com