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RE: Hiding all copies of your PPP password



On Tue, 8 Dec 1998, Omer Zak wrote:

> 1. If someone broke into your system, he'll at least have to wait until
> you log into the Internet (activate the hacked pppd) before hijacking
> your PPP password.  This assumes that the final PPP hiding wrapper
> script knows to wipe out temporary files, not merely unlink them.
> If you use TripWire (or something similar) to verify your system's integrity
> before you connect to the Internet, then the risk from this direction is
> eliminated.

You should be aware that if you have a reasonably secure system, there's
no reason it WILL be hacked at all. And if it is, then the hacker would
probably be skilled enough to place a sniffer on your network interfaces
and grab everything that looks a password. I find the solution of
temporarily monitoring your connection logs for anything suspicious a
perfectly workable security solution. If security bothers you that much,
have your ISP install a secure PPP daemon (one that uses a public-key 
scheme) or use phone callbacks (if you're connecting via the Technion or
something.) I'm not sure such a PPP daemon exist, but I don't think it
would be much of a difficulty modifying pppd for that purpose. 

Another secure enough solution is to auto-magically change your password
per week/day/connect ;) 

-- Dudu

PS - modifying pppd won't cut it for systems which routinely md5sum every
     binary and compare it to a verified secure list kept safe. (like
     on a floppy.. or encrypted on a remote server). Security freaks
     actually do that. Paranoia rules.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
crisk@netvision.net.il                                         HAIFA, ISRAEL
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sexually tilted quote from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK:
 10. I thought that hairy beast would be the end of me!