Password Protection: How Safe Are Your Passwords?

Password Protection:How Safe Are Your Passwords?

Anderson School of Management Anderson Graduate Student Bachelors of Science in Computer Science Masters of Science in Computer Engineering Master of Science in Information Systems and Assurance

Overview • About the Program • Forms of Protection • Why Passwords? • Good Password Tips • Hacking Passwords • Programming with Python • Python Password Generator

Information Assurance Program • The Information Assurance program is an interdisciplinary field combining aspects of management, information technology, specialized aspects of computer science, computer engineering, information systems and accounting. • Program Website: https://ia.mgt.unm.edu/default.asp

Summer Camps • Introductory Cybersecurity Camp:The introductory camp is intended for high school students just learning about cybersecurity and computer systems. • https://ia.mgt.unm.edu/summer-camps/default.asp

Forms of Protection • Passwords • Two-factor Authentication • i.e. a password and image • Biometrics • Fingerprints, eye scans, etc. • Tokens • A piece of technology that only you can use to login somewhere.

Why Passwords? • Passwords are here to stay • Why!? • Passwords are easy to remember. • Are used for almost everything. • Are still wonderful if created and protected well.

Good Password Tips • You should never: • Reuse a password for multiple logins. • Make a password using your personal information like your name, birthday, pets name, etc. • Make a password that is commonly used such as, abc123! Or P@55w0rd, etc.

Good Password Tips • If allowed, passwords should: • Be 10-14 characters long • Have lower and upper case letters, numbers and symbols. • Be something unique to you that you will remember.

Hacking Passwords • Password protection is very important. • Hackers have tools now to find a password almost immediately. • Tools today can figure out simple passwords in under 0.23 milliseconds! • Tool:

Even Celebrities Are Affected

Programming With Python • Random • This library allows us to generate a random set of characters. • Example Code: import random • print • This function lets us print out what our program created. • Example Code: print p

Programming With Python • Join() • This function allows us to join multiple parts together. • Example Code: “”.join(random.sample(x,y)) • Variables • We can set values to variables in order to do things with them. • Example Code: variable = “123”

Python Password Generator • Step One: • Open the following link: • https://repl.it/languages/python3 • Step Two: • Let’s make sure we include our library. • In order to use the random library, let’s type the following in our compiler: import random

Python Password Generator • Step Three: • Let’s make our first variable: • Let’s make a variable that stores lowercase letters in it: Letter = “abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz” • ? - If I wanted to make a variable that had both lower and upper case, how would I do that?

Python Password Generator • What your code should look like so far: import random letter = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ" You’re doing GREAT!!

Python Password Generator • Step Four: • We need to make 2 more variables. • number = “(your values)” • symbol = “(your values)” • The number variable should have numbers 0-9 and the symbol variable should have !@#$

Python Password Generator • What your code should look like so far: import random letter = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ” number = "0123456789” symbol = "!@#$"

Python Password Generator • ? - Why do we need letters, numbers, and symbols? • Password Rules: • Be 10-14 characters long. • Have lower and upper case letters, numbers and symbols.

Python Password Generator • Step Five: • We need to make a variable for how long we want our password to be. • Remember: • The rules say between 10-14 characters long.

Python Password Generator • Step Five (cont.): • Let’s name our variable ‘passlen’, and set it equal to a number value. passlen = ?? ? – How long should I make my password variable?

Python Password Generator • Code So Far: import random letter = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ“ number = "0123456789“ symbol = "!@#$“ passlen = 12

Python Password Generator • Step Six: • Creating a print variable and using the join function. • Remember: • Join() • This function allows us to join multiple parts together, like our variables we created, letter, number, and symbol.

Python Password Generator • Step Six (cont.): • Example Code: “”.join(random.sample(x,y)) • “”.join(x) – means I want to use the join() function to create a new entry “”. • random.sample(x,y) – means I want to use the random function and take my variable x, and make it as long as y.

Python Password Generator • Step Six (cont.): • The variables we have so far are letter, number, and symbol • Step 1: • Make a variable p • p = ?? • Step 2: • Type the following: • p = “”.join(random.sample(x+y+z, a)

Python Password Generator • Step Six (cont.): • Step 3: • Replace x with ? • Replace y with ? • Replace z with ? • Replace a with ‘passlen’ • Your code so far: p = “”.join(random.sample(letter+number+symbol, passlen))

Python Password Generator • Code So Far: import random letter = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ“ number = "0123456789“ symbol = "!@#$“ passlen = 12 p = “”.join(random.sample(letter+number+symbol, passlen))

Python Password Generator • Step Seven • We need to print our variable p • Easiest step • Type the following: • print p • Step 8 • Run your program!!

Testing Our Passwords • Let’s see how hard it is to crack your new passwords you have made!

Password Rules • Remember the password Dos and Don’ts: • Do • Do have at least 10-14 characters. • Do have letters, numbers, AND symbols. • Do change your passwords regularly. • Don’t • Don’t reuse passwords. • Don’t use personal information that is easy to guess. • Don’t use commonly used passwords.

Password Protection: How Safe Are Your Passwords?