How to secure a file of usernames and passwords?

[Ahmed Moustafa]

Hi All,

The application sends files to different FTP servers.
The application is hosted on a server outside the firewall.
Where/How could the FTP accounts be stored securely?

If I encrypt the accounts on the server, I will have keep there e.g. a
private key to be able to decrypt again, right?

Is there a standard/common approach to achieve that?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ahmed Moustafa]

I'm sorry, but you're not making a lot of sense. Generally, user
account information is stored in a server-specific way that is not made
accessible over a network. Do you really want to encrypt the transfers?
Or are you communicating that account information with clients somehow?
Are you concerned about the username and password that are sent by the
client to do the FTP?

I don't have much information... but it sounds like your security
requirements make FTP a poor choice of protocol.

I am sorry for being not clear at defining the problem.
The files to be sent are already encrypted, there is no problem with that.
What needs to be secured is the set of accounts that the files to be
delievered to.

Does that make any sense?

 

[Ahmed Moustafa]

Well, not yet, no. How about answering a few more questions:

1. Where do you store this set of accounts?

That is my question i.e. do I have to keep the accounts behind the
firewall? Or can I keep them e.g. encrypted on my server outside the
firewall?

2. Who are you interested in securing it from?

The host of the application is a server outside the firewall and itself
is FTP server, so people connect to put and get files and I am
interested in securing the accounts from those people.

3. Where exactly does FTP fit into this?

It is what the application is supposed to perform, sending files to the
business partners.

 

[Chris Smith]

It is what the application is supposed to perform, sending files to the
business partners.

Ah, so you're *writing* an FTP server, not using one. Alright then.
There are two security concerns that come to mind regarding account
information:

1. Protecting usernames and passwords from interception as someone is
logging in to the site. There isn't really any way to accomplish this
while still using the FTP protocol.

2. Protecting login info in case the server is compromised. This is
probably a job for something like the one-way encryption used for UNIX
passwords. In fact, most FTP application use local OS login accounts,
so they effectively do this.

It's worth noting that case 2 is pretty much a lost scenario anyway, so
I consider it much less important than case 1.

That is my question i.e. do I have to keep the accounts behind the
firewall? Or can I keep them e.g. encrypted on my server outside the
firewall?

You could store them behind the firewall and run some kind of an
authentication server, I suppose. It would be a real pain, and would
only provide a little additional protection in case of #2 above. It
still doesn't help with your big gaping security hole; that can't be
helped while still using the FTP protocol.

The host of the application is a server outside the firewall and itself
is FTP server, so people connect to put and get files and I am
interested in securing the accounts from those people.

Well, obviously you wouldn't put account information in a directory
that's made available by your FTP server... Aside from that, I think
I've summarized the two main security concerns in my first response
above.

--
www.designacourse.com
The Easiest Way to Train Anyone... Anywhere.

Chris Smith - Lead Software Developer/Technical Trainer
MindIQ Corporation

 

[Ahmed Moustafa]

One-time Passcodes would work, actually. (OK, they'd likely be a pain
for users, unless a smart card that generates the passcodes is
used).

What smart card do you mean?

 

[Brian Palmer]

What smart card do you mean?

I wasn't thinking of any in particular; I just know that there exist
smart cards which handle one-time passcodes. A google search for smart
card one-time passcode (or password) turned up a few.