Collaborate Disseminate
Often when I am signing into web sites, I am prompted for credentials in two steps. First, they ask me to enter my email address. I type it in and click a button. Then they ask me for my password. I type it in and click a button. (Sometime… Continue reading Is there a security-related motivation for prompting me for my email address, and then my email and password?
I was trying to initiate a Western Union transaction from my bank account, but toward the end of the process I was prompted by this request, which is to type in my bank’s login information.
The request evidently comes thro… Continue reading Western Union prompts for bank login information — ridiculously bad practice?
Most web sites I use allow a password reset through email; a few require two-factor authentication with a phone call or SMS. It would perhaps only be banking or major commerce sites that would require some additional authenti… Continue reading What are the circumstances in which it’s not foolhardy to have access to your primary email address through your smartphone?
One way to defeat public key encryption would be to make a list of all public and private key pairings. For 128-bit and 256-bit keys, there are lots of possible pairs:
2^128 = 3.40e38
2^256 = 1.16e77
Google might have 15 exabytes of dat… Continue reading When will it be feasible to enumerate all possible private/public key pairs [closed]
Both my boot partition and my data partition are encrypted with TrueCrypt. My password is lengthy, so I find myself avoiding a reboot of my system whenever possible. When going to lunch (for instance), I have been putting my … Continue reading Is my data safe if, with an encrypted hard disk, I put Windows in "sleep" mode