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What exactly is the reason emailing the password is bad (ignoring the plain-text-in-database issue)?
by hackinthebochs 15y ago
What exactly is the reason emailing the password is bad (ignoring the plain-text-in-database issue)?
- bricestacey 15y agoEmail is traditionally transferred using unencrypted connections. Once in your mailbox, email is often saved and/or indexed for easy search, which is often unencrypted and/or outright unprotected. And worse, your email provider can discover your password by simply signing in as you.
- ceejayoz 15y agoI once opened a password reset e-mail from my (former) bank while at work and wasn't hugely pleased to see my password pop up in plain view for a coworker to see.
- parfe 15y agoLets say you want to give the user a 1 step process to get back into their account. You can 1) Email the password or 2) Email a unique link which lets them reset the password for their account. If you do #1 the person likely used that password on other accounts. Now you've not only compromised access to your service, but any other that has the same password. IF you do #2 the user sets a new password and gets into his account. No record of the new password is left anywhere. An attacker with access to the email account can still compromise your service, but now he has no idea what the old password was.
- gte910h 15y ago#2 is important as people share passwords like mad. Secondly, the link can expire after a certain amount of time.