So I've used encryption on a personal level and even on the server through SSL but I've not done much more in PHP than using either the MD5() or SHA1() functions on passwords. I tend to be a very paranoid type with user information and I'm constantly thinking about weaknesses in systems and how they could be exploited.
My initial encryption method was to either md5 or SHA1 passwords, and stick them in the database. While I know it's difficult to 'reverse the sausage machine' on these encrypted strings, it's not impossible. An attacker could determine an MD5 or SHA1 password through a simple dictionary attack. So, in essence, the encryption is useless. My current method is to concatenate the username+password+username and then either MD5 or SHA1 that and store that as the password in the database. But, really, is this anymore secure to a sophisticated, thinking attacker? Certainly, if I could think of it, they could, and it would again be trivial to write a script to execute a simple dictionary attack and figure out the password. I also know there are many other encryption methods out there but, isn't it true that *all* of them are compromisable by that simple manner or am I missing something critical here? Perhaps the only way to mitigate the risk is to institute a 3 strikes policy (which pisses users off but is secure) and to them change the users password to some absolutely random 50 digit gobbledygook string of characters. Am I being overly paranoid here or are these valid concerns? Am I simply missing something? Thanks! Anthony Blog: www.cajuntechie.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/cajuntechie Twitter: www.twitter.com/cajuntechie _______________________________________________ New York PHP Users Group Community Talk Mailing List http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk http://www.nyphp.org/Show-Participation
