Archive for category Security
Challenge Hash
Posted by Jurgen in Algorithms, Security on May 5th, 2009
The Internet is a crowd and everybody in it can potentially hear what you say. Methods have been developed to prevent this and ensure identity, integrity and authenticity. Often these three can be seen as properties of encryption. Encryption implies the possibility of decryption. Passwords are precious things you don’t want others to decrypt and read. With a technique called challenge hashing you don’t need to have any worries about it. Challenge hashing is a technique used to verify a password on site B which was sent from site A without sending the password in plain text. This article covers how. Read the rest of this entry »
Security basics
Security is an issue on every level of communication. If you order a bread at the bakery you pay and receive your bread. This face to face approach doesn’t really need any security. What does it matter if your neighbor, in line next to you, overhears you ordering a bread and sees you pay as long as you get your bread? But what if this would be done online and it involves not a bread but a loan or a transfer from your savings account? You wouldn’t want a John Doe messing with the data you need to communicate with your bank, would you? Read the rest of this entry »
