On Sat, 17 Aug 2002, Andreas Aardal Hanssen wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Aug 2002, Murat Bicer wrote:
> >Passwords are not stored plaintext.
> >The authentication is plaintext.
>
> Using Kerberos? You certainly need to store passwords in plaintext
> (or be able to retreive them in plaintext) to implement Kerberos.
>
> >To avoid people capturing your passwords, you will encrypt the session
> >using ssl or TLS.
>
> I think you've misunderstood.. I'm talking about server implementation of
> Kerberos. Have you implemented Kerberos before?
>
> Andy

Yes, the Kerberos KDC is the weak point in the Kerberos system.
Most implementations protect the data (passwords, etc) using a
symmetric (reversible) encryption method. There is a "master key" that
is used by the server for this purpose. (look at the MIT Kerberos
docs).

Do specifically need Kerberos or just some 'GSSAPI' system?
There was the "Globius" project that was working on a GSSAPI
implementation that used RSA/PKI as the underlying technology.
(sorry, I no longer have the reference for it).

If you just need a secure authentication system for networked
applications, check out SRP <http://srp.stanford.edu> no cleartext
passwords anywhere. ;)

Dave

-- 
Dave Funk                                  University of Iowa
<dbfunk (at) engineering.uiowa.edu>        College of Engineering
319/335-5751   FAX: 319/384-0549           1256 Seamans Center
Sys_admin/Postmaster/cell_admin            Iowa City, IA 52242-1527
#include <std_disclaimer.h>
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