Tag Archives: Security vs. Usability

Why Ping is no Security Flaw! (But your Friend)

One core topic when designing firewall policies is the following question: Is ping a security attack? Should ICMP echo-request messages be blocked in almost any directions?

My short answer: Ping is your friend. :) You won’t block hackers if you block ping. Instead, ping is quite useful for network administrators checking basic network connectivity. That is: I suggest allowing ping anywhere around, accept incoming connections from the Internet to the trusted networks.

Here comes a discussion:

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Password Policies – Appropriate Security Techniques

How are passwords stolen? What are common password flaws? What are the security techniques to enhance the security of passwords respectively the security of the login-services? What authentication methods provide long-term security? How often should a password be changed? Which methods achieve good security while not being too complicated to be used by end-users?

This blog post discusses several methods of how passwords are stolen and provides approaches of how login-services can be secured.

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