[CentOS] Unknown rootkit causes compromised servers
Les Bell
lesbell at lesbell.com.au
Tue Jan 29 05:43:16 UTC 2008
Frank Cox <theatre at sasktel.net> wrote:
>>
I have never understood this. If I have a good, strong password that
nobody
knows, how is changing it to another one an improvement over what I already
have?
<<
Correct. Modern thinking is to teach people how to create a good, strong
password and then stick with it for a longer period than has traditionally
been the case. A rainbow tables attack against a captured hash can be done
in just a few seconds, so unless you're prepared to change your password
every few seconds, it's a futile gesture.
Because most sets of rainbow tables cover all combinations of upper/lower
case alpha, numeric and punctuation symbols, a strong password should
contain at least one control character, a composed character (using the
Alt+numpad technique) or some other non-printable character outside the
rainbow tables set. Or use two-factor authentication (RSA SecurID or
similar tokens, certificates, etc.).
Best,
--- Les Bell, RHCE, CISSP
[http://www.lesbell.com.au]
Tel: +61 2 9451 1144
FreeWorldDialup: 800909
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