On Feb 19, 2009, at 8:36 AM, Peter Gutmann wrote:
There are a variety of password cost-estimation surveys floating
around that
put the cost of password resets at $100-200 per user per year,
depending on
which survey you use (Gartner says so, it must be true).
You can get OTP tokens as little as $5. Barely anyone uses them.
Can anyone explain why, if the cost of password resets is so high,
banks and
the like don't want to spend $5 (plus one-off background
infrastructure costs
and whatnot) on a token like this?
(My guess is that the password-reset cost estimates are coming from
the same
place as software and music piracy figures, but I'd still be
interested in any
information anyone can provide).
I suspect some very biased analysis. For example, people who really
need their passwords reset regularly will probably lose their tokens
just as regularly. The cost of replacing one of those is high - not
for the token itself, but for the administrative costs, which *must*
be higher than for a password reset since they include all the work in
a password reset (properly authenticating user/identifying account
probably contribute the largest costs), plus all the costs of
physically obtaining, registering, and distributing a replacement
token - plus any implied costs due to the delays needed to physically
deliver the token versus the potential for an instantaneous reset.
I suppose the $100-$200 estimate might make sense for an organization
that actually does password resets in a secure, carefully managed
fashion. Frankly ... I, personally, have never seen such an
organization. Password resets these days are mainly automated, with
authentication and identification based on very weak secondary
security questions. Even organizations you'd expect to be secure
"authenticate" password reset requests based entirely on public
information (e.g., if you know the name and badge number of an
employee and the right help desk to call, you can get the password
reset). New passwords are typically delivered by unsecured email.
All too many organizations reset to a fixed, known value.
It's quite true that organizations have found the costs of password
resets to be too high. What they've generally done is saved money on
the reset process itself, pushing the cost out into whatever budgets
will get hit as by the resulting security breaches.
-- Jerry
Peter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majord...@metzdowd.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majord...@metzdowd.com
