Principles of Secure Account Management By Chuck Connell

Principles of Secure Account Management By Chuck Connell www. chc-3. com

Speaker Bio ¨ Working with Domino/Notes since R 2 in 1990. ¨ At Lotus: development manager for Notes C- language API, manager of (short-lived) Notes applications team, technical liaison to business partners. ¨ Consultant since 1995, with specialties in security and remote administration. ¨ Runs the popular web site Domino. Security. org.

Outline ¨ General principles of good computer account management (for any computer system). ¨ How these principles apply in the Domino/Notes world. ¨ A few other Domino security tips. ¨ Q&A following my presentation.

The Principles ¨ Individually identifiable account names ¨ High-quality passwords ¨ Unique passwords ¨ Passwords known only to each user ¨ Multiple layers of access controls ¨ Account expiration ¨ Easy recovery of lost IDs and passwords

Individual identification ¨ Each person logs on with his/her own name. ¨ Implies no “admin” accounts, or “department” accounts, or sharing of IDs. – This is a big change for many shops, but it is important for good computer security. ¨ Why? – Ensures each person gets the proper access. – You can trace what really happened when something goes wrong. ¨ Also implies no “email accounts”. – But can do this with mail-in databases.

High-quality passwords ¨ Everyone agrees with this, in theory. But it is widely overlooked. ¨ Weak passwords: password, username, spouse’s name, company name. ¨ Stronger passwords: M 1 ty. M 0 use, blue*jacket. ¨ Can enforce for Notes IDs and (in R 6) Internet passwords. Set strength = 8 or more.

Unique Passwords ¨ Means each person has a different password, and knows everyone else does too. ¨ Why? Very hard to log on as someone else. – Especially if combined with high-quality passwords. ¨ Important for internal security, among valid users. ¨ Everyone agrees with this too, but also widely overlooked. ¨ Many free tools for generating unique passwords. – www. zdnet. com downloads search for create and passwords

Passwords known only to users ¨ This is SOP for many computer systems, but news to many Domino/Notes shops. ¨ Related to authentication and non-repudiation. – You receive an email from Harry Potter (or see Harry in log file), you want to know it is really Harry. – Only way is to have a single token, which I know Harry possesses, or a single acct password. ¨ For Notes – Set initial password to something user will change (see tool on my download page). – Admin not keep ID or password. – Use ID Recovery feature (more on this later). ¨ For Domino web accounts, use must-change password checkbox.

Multiple layers of security ¨ Means that you don’t really trust any one security mechanism. But you have high faith in many overlapping barriers. ¨ Example in Domino/Notes: firewall, good account password, server certificate checking, server deny list, server access list, database access list, document-level control (Reader fields). ¨ Drawback… You can create security controls that are so complicated you get confused. Confusion means holes. But multiple layers is still a good idea.

Account expiration ¨ What it means… No computer access method should last forever. ¨ In Notes, password expiration (standard method) or certificate expiration (less common) ¨ For Domino web accounts: password expiration allowed in R 6. ¨ Yes, password expiration is a pain for users, and management may object. But, you can set time long: 360 / 90 days.

Easy recovery of ID/password ¨ Consistently, this is the single largest headache for any computer system administrator. ¨ Appears to contradict the maxim of only allowing each user to know his/her password. – Recovery is easy if admin team keeps a list of passwords or a set of ID files with common pwd. ¨ For Notes, solution is Notes ID Recovery feature. – I have set this up and tested it; it works. – Can specify “n out of N” people to recover. ¨ For Domino web, admin reset password to new unique value and force user to change.

Other useful tips ¨ Server-side password checking for Notes. – Implied by password expiration. – Lets you catch stolen ID files, if suspected. ¨ Server-side checking of Notes public keys. – Lets you catch bogus ID files, from stolen cert. ¨ Store Notes ID files in only one place that only the user can see. – Not NAB, not shared folder, not admin computer. – Implies Notes ID Recovery use. – For high security, put ID on memory stick. User carries at all times.

Other useful tips ¨ Create a separate org unit for servers. – Example: London 1/Servers/Acme. – Allows for some easy security settings. ¨ Use org units for groups of people (if you think you may assign access this way). – Example: Harry Potter/Houston/Acme, Draco Malfoy/Chicago/Acme. ¨ Auto log off (by Notes). – Like pressing F 5 (clear password) every N minutes.

Questions ? You may submit your questions at any time.

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