Re:What you need to know to keep your online accounts safe
by 300bps on Saturday September 28, 2013 @08:19AM
(#6461632)
Didn't see a lot of practical advice. For example: they say there aren't really defenses against keyloggers but that is not true. One defense to protect a web password is to inject characters into the key logger that are ignored by the browser. One method of doing this is to click in the password text box, type one character of your password then click on the background of the page and type a bunch of gibberish then repeat. The keylogger will be filled with random gibberish instead of your password.
Re:What you need to know to keep your online accounts safe
by 300bps on Saturday September 28, 2013 @11:54AM
(#6462080)
I'm not sure if you understood what I was saying because the window title would remain the same (i.e. the browser). You would just be clicking inside and outside of a textbox within the same browser.
As for taking a screenshot - that wouldn't help either with something meaningful like a password. Not to mention that doing screenshots totally changes the dynamic of a "key logger" and exponentially raises the amount of storage needed and makes it even more difficult to glean useful data from it.
I think you're trying to stretch to make this countermeasure "easily defeated" when it really isn't.
Re:What you need to know to keep your online accounts safe
by txutxu on Saturday September 28, 2013 @09:04AM
(#6461702)
OK.
But that you cannot defend yourself of NSA, until you're in an enemy country or something like, does not mean, that you cannot protect yourself against all the rest of the world.
Using a master password, implies the clipboard (on average). Does anybody trust desktop browsing over linux, assuming that clipboard usage on Xorg is in some way safe? it's convenient, but not safe.
If I try to tell best-practices to a user of mine, I try to group all my experience and knowledge, before compile to user slang.
Even if for casual users, short in scope (for my personal taste).
And maybe too many prose, a more direct style maybe better to stamp on the user mind a list of best practices.
Re:What you need to know to keep your online accounts safe
by txutxu on Saturday September 28, 2013 @09:09AM
(#6461711)
0) Do not publish your best practices
1) ...
:-)
If you want a more serious response, at least, talk to the user about attacks that remains exposed, and keywords to the solution, if I resume too much.
Re:What you need to know to keep your online accounts safe
by vinceguidry on Saturday September 28, 2013 @12:01PM
(#6462109)
Yeah, those 20-character long random strings are great until you have to type them into your iPhone. And type them again. And again. And again. With your browser window open on your desktop/laptop so you can read them from LastPass/1Password/Keepass.
As for taking a screenshot - that wouldn't help either with something meaningful like a password. Not to mention that doing screenshots totally changes the dynamic of a "key logger" and exponentially raises the amount of storage needed and makes it even more difficult to glean useful data from it.
I think you're trying to stretch to make this countermeasure "easily defeated" when it really isn't.
Some of them require a little bit more of research by the user, but the advices are practical all of them.
Nowadays there are many more treats, entry points (hint: browser setup and plugins), and more authentication methods than "passwords".
We have even evidences of major upstream compromises.
In resume: for me the article is a little bit short in scope.
But that you cannot defend yourself of NSA, until you're in an enemy country or something like, does not mean, that you cannot protect yourself against all the rest of the world.
Using a master password, implies the clipboard (on average). Does anybody trust desktop browsing over linux, assuming that clipboard usage on Xorg is in some way safe? it's convenient, but not safe.
If I try to tell best-practices to a user of mine, I try to group all my experience and knowledge, before compile to user slang.
Even if for casual users, short in scope (for my personal taste).
And maybe too many prose, a more direct style maybe better to stamp on the user mind a list of best practices.
1) ...
:-)
If you want a more serious response, at least, talk to the user about attacks that remains exposed, and keywords to the solution, if I resume too much.