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    To Password Protect a network folder or not

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    • C
      Carnival Boy @scottalanmiller
      last edited by

      @scottalanmiller said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

      @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

      Ie can you restrict the domain admin or the file server's local admin account from access?

      No, that you cannot do. The domain admin always has access.

      That's what I meant by "is it possible to set permissions to allow access to only a specific user and no-one else?". It isn't possible. So if the company wants to protect the contents of a file from the Domain Admin then NTFS can't do this and they will need an alternative.

      I disagree with you when you say that a shared password system is total non-secure. Why does it have to be?

      To use the example of MS Office's password protection, that is far more secure than NTFS is (or was), I believe? Since NTFS is easy (or always was, I'm not sure if it is improved) to break if you gain physical access to the file server where anyone can gain local admin rights (for example). Correct me if I'm wrong!

      scottalanmillerS 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • scottalanmillerS
        scottalanmiller @Carnival Boy
        last edited by

        @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

        I disagree with you when you say that a shared password system is total non-secure. Why does it have to be?

        Because you can't tell who has access, when access has changed, no one is accountable for it. All key things to security.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • scottalanmillerS
          scottalanmiller @Carnival Boy
          last edited by

          @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

          To use the example of MS Office's password protection, that is far more secure than NTFS is (or was), I believe? Since NTFS is easy (or always was, I'm not sure if it is improved) to break if you gain physical access to the file server where anyone can gain local admin rights (for example). Correct me if I'm wrong!

          That particular case is awful. I've seen other apps open "encrypted" MS Office files accidentally. It used to be, at least, that LibreOffice users wouldn't even get prompted for the password and would get access to the entire document without even knowing that it was meant to have been secured!

          C 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • scottalanmillerS
            scottalanmiller @Carnival Boy
            last edited by

            @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

            To use the example of MS Office's password protection, that is far more secure than NTFS is (or was), I believe? Since NTFS is easy (or always was, I'm not sure if it is improved) to break if you gain physical access to the file server where anyone can gain local admin rights (for example). Correct me if I'm wrong!

            Different goals.... encryption is to protect against a breach of physical access. NTFS/SMB protect against network access. Two totally different goals. Encryption is not very useful unless there is a physical breach because the encryption is disabled during use.

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            • scottalanmillerS
              scottalanmiller
              last edited by

              Or to put it another way....

              NTFS security vanishes when physical access is breached.

              Encryption security vanishes when normal systems are in operation.


              Which is why I said that you could definitely encrypt the entire drive for physical security considerations, that can make sense (once in a great while) but encrypting individual files is generally quite silly.

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              • C
                Carnival Boy @scottalanmiller
                last edited by

                @scottalanmiller said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                To use the example of MS Office's password protection, that is far more secure than NTFS is (or was), I believe? Since NTFS is easy (or always was, I'm not sure if it is improved) to break if you gain physical access to the file server where anyone can gain local admin rights (for example). Correct me if I'm wrong!

                That particular case is awful. I've seen other apps open "encrypted" MS Office files accidentally. It used to be, at least, that LibreOffice users wouldn't even get prompted for the password and would get access to the entire document without even knowing that it was meant to have been secured!

                I doubt it. Maybe 10+ years ago, but not now.

                @Breffni-Potter tried to break one of my AES encrypted 7Zip files last year (and failed). Do you want to try a new challenge and crack one of my password protected Word files? I bet you can't.

                I'm not saying password protection should be an alterntive to NTFS. I agree that would be silly. But as an additional layer of security it is valid.

                scottalanmillerS Deleted74295D 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • scottalanmillerS
                  scottalanmiller @Carnival Boy
                  last edited by

                  @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                  @Breffni-Potter tried to break one of my AES encrypted 7Zip files last year (and failed). Do you want to try a new challenge and crack one of my password protected Word files? I bet you can't.

                  He never bothered. I remember checking in and he never even looked into it.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • scottalanmillerS
                    scottalanmiller @Carnival Boy
                    last edited by

                    @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                    I'm not saying password protection should be an alterntive to NTFS. I agree that would be silly. But as an additional layer of security it is valid.

                    Only against physical theft, though. If we are talking about a situation at the office, you would not brute force the password, you would instead bypass it. The file is only secure as long as it is not accessed.

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                    • Deleted74295D
                      Deleted74295 Banned @Carnival Boy
                      last edited by

                      @Carnival-Boy said

                      @Breffni-Potter tried to break one of my AES encrypted 7Zip files last year (and failed). Do you want to try a new challenge and crack one of my password protected Word files? I bet you can't.

                      I actually succeeded on the first try remember? 😄

                      My lab was in pieces and I never got around to doing it.

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                      • C
                        Carnival Boy
                        last edited by

                        It's not too late to try 🙂

                        Deleted74295D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • Deleted74295D
                          Deleted74295 Banned @Carnival Boy
                          last edited by

                          @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                          It's not too late to try 🙂

                          True.

                          I do know of 1 very sneaky trick though to instantly get the data.

                          7ZIP stores a copy of the unencrypted file in the Windows temp directory.

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                          • V
                            Veet
                            last edited by

                            Hi,

                            This may be off-topic, I don't see many people talk of AD RMS, with or without Gigaworks / Secureislands etc..

                            scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • C
                              Carnival Boy @Deleted74295
                              last edited by

                              @Breffni-Potter said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                              @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                              It's not too late to try 🙂

                              True.

                              I do know of 1 very sneaky trick though to instantly get the data.

                              7ZIP stores a copy of the unencrypted file in the Windows temp directory.

                              Nice try. But 7Zip stores a copy in MY Windows temp directory, not yours. How do you propose getting access to my temp directory?

                              Deleted74295D scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Deleted74295D
                                Deleted74295 Banned @Carnival Boy
                                last edited by

                                @Carnival-Boy said

                                Nice try. But 7Zip stores a copy in MY Windows temp directory, not yours. How do you propose getting access to my temp directory?

                                Yes that's what I meant. But it would also store it in the temp directory of any machine which decrypts with 7zip. As for how I get access to the temp directory, how determined am I to get your data? If the data was that important, why not just steal the desktop?

                                Bitlocker can be completely cracked apart in a minute if the following conditions are met.

                                Hibernation is enabled
                                The machine is in sleep/not turned off.

                                Then all that needs to happen is the laptop (most likely) to be stolen, which is typically left on sleep mode and then the bitlocker protection is null and void.

                                Electronic attack is not the only threat and most of the data breaches in the media have been due to lost USBs, lost laptops and so on.

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                                • C
                                  Carnival Boy
                                  last edited by

                                  Is that your long-winded way of admitting defeat in my challenge 🙂

                                  Deleted74295D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • C
                                    Carnival Boy
                                    last edited by Carnival Boy

                                    Although if I come in to work tomorrow and find my laptop has been stolen and there's a note on my desk that says "I win, love from Breffni", you'll have taken the challenge too far.

                                    Deleted74295D scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                    • Deleted74295D
                                      Deleted74295 Banned @Carnival Boy
                                      last edited by

                                      @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                                      Although if I come in to work tomorrow and find my laptop has been stolen and there's a note on my desk that says "I win, love from Breffni", you'll have taken the challenge too far.

                                      All is fair in love, war and hacking contests.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                      • Deleted74295D
                                        Deleted74295 Banned @Carnival Boy
                                        last edited by

                                        @Carnival-Boy said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                                        Is that your long-winded way of admitting defeat in my challenge 🙂

                                        As a good politician says, we will not accept defeat but we are considering all of our options in this matter.

                                        One of them involves @scottalanmiller doing me a favour....so please hold.

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                                        • C
                                          Carnival Boy @Deleted74295
                                          last edited by

                                          @Breffni-Potter said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                                          ....so please hold.

                                          Take your time - I've already waited a year.

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                                          • scottalanmillerS
                                            scottalanmiller @Veet
                                            last edited by

                                            @Veet said in To Password Protect a network folder or not:

                                            Hi,

                                            This may be off-topic, I don't see many people talk of AD RMS, with or without Gigaworks / Secureislands etc..

                                            I'm certainly avoiding it because I have no idea what it is 😉

                                            Deleted74295D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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