AfterWorld Survival Forum
Officials => Tech Forum => Topic started by: Leopold "Shaqan" Mutter on August 19, 2012, 06:11:24 pm
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fully integrated portal, wow this is cool stuff! 8)
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I am happy that I could finally change my password easily (one sent by AW Staff ages a go contained "@" which could not be entered into AW login prompt without copy-paste) but I have smallish concern with overall security..
Some security flaw in BBoard forum software could put players in game at serious risk..altered passwords and stolen accounts.. It would be somewhat safer if forum software would be developed by AW devs themselves, perhaps not so feature rich but it would make harder for script kiddies to exploit latest code flaws which happened to become public
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I agree with the unit, passwords in SMF can never be considered safe
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Yeah same here,i am concerned with passwords being the same for forum and for game... was there not mention in the past of forum mods being chosen from game players to mod the forum? ... do these players/mods have access to players passwords for the forum and in turn to their game accounts if they are the same pass's? ... just a thought
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From the info about the board software:
All passwords are encrypted for security reasons and cannot be retrieved, however, they can be changed or reset in the event that a password is forgotten.
and
As a quick fix an administrator can change a members password
so (if any mods have been chosen) only an Admin can change the password for the board, and no one can see it (not even admins)
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Yeah same here,i am concerned with passwords being the same for forum and for game... was there not mention in the past of forum mods being chosen from game players to mod the forum? ... do these players/mods have access to players passwords for the forum and in turn to their game accounts if they are the same pass's? ... just a thought
The assumption being made here is that Dedicated Logic are storing passwords in open text form, rather than the standard checksummed one-way-you-cannot-extract-its-content format.
The maximum an ADMINISTRATOR can do is change the password and/or delete the account - there is no indication a MODERATOR will also be administrators.
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Ok thats good news.
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"encrypted for security reasons" means very little if you dont know the enxcryption level and any time the same password is used in 2 different programs you have a security problem. plain and simple
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I'm not an expert, i only know the basic principles, but it seems actually your safety is in your own hands here, depends on you more than on anything else.
What is stored in the database (which is accessible both for the game and the forum) is the encrypted password (password hash) not the human-readable password itself (and i don't have to ask the devs if this database is stored on a different server than the forum, simple logic tells me that's how it works).
Now, the same password hash travels over public internet from your PC to the game server each time you login into the game.
Suppose someone manages to monitor this traffic or succeeds in hacking into the forum - in both cases the result is exactly the same: the hacker will have your password hash.
Yes, in certain cases the password hashes can be de-crypted. If the hacker succeeds in this he will have your original (plain-text) password that can be used for logging into your game account.
Problem here is not so much where and how the password hashes are held, the root of the problem is password length and complexity. If your password is 8 symbols or less, a common dictionary word and only contains lower case characters (no digits and/or special symbols) it's not 100% safe even with the best encryption.
Solution is simple - if your password is too short and simple, change it, make it safe. ;)
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Now the password changing procedure. What exactly happens when passwords are changed?
If you change your password yourself, your old password is asked first, encrypted, sent to the server which will compare this hash with the hash stored in it's database. If this operation succeeds the old password hash is overwritten with the new password hash. Nowhere in the whole process is the encrypted password decrypted into human-readable form.
If it is administrator who changes your password for you, the administrator password has to be entered first, all the rest is the same. It's the administrators responsibility to have a good, safe password on his account.
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SMF 2.0.1 had an exploit capable of elevating user privileges (by SQL injection). True, it needed certain preconditions (certain PHP versions with built-in security flaw present, running the forum)
Considering how many automated script bots exist "out there", this forum is destined to be a target, especially because RCE game is connected to it.
question 1. Is the alteration of user passwords been tied to Administrator account itself or capabiliy is tied to privileges of that level?
Fact of encryption is meaningless if intruder has capability of simply resetting and altering passwords
question 2. Could AW Devs create backup system? Something like: Separate website in separate web server, without any fancy scripting. Just plain HTML site where you could type in your username into edit box, enter some code string to next edit box, push the "panic" button which would block the account.
a) code string being sent to prearranged email not being tied to AW account
b) Ability to lift the block reserved to AW Support only
This way player could set a block on his/her own ingame account, in case of stolen/changed password (some random trojan in player´s computer could be reason for stolen password as well)
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on my walk today i came up with this thought for the devs
Your securing your game with a peice of software you didn't write. does that make you feel secure?
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The option to block your own account whenever you want to prevent it from being stripped/abused/whatever would be nice, but it should require more than just the login name or else anyone who guesses properly can lock anyone else's account. This is where a secure login name, one that's different from any other name connected to AW, is a "best practice" for such things but far too many people don't adhere to strong security guidelines because it is easy to forget. And even if the game required a unique login name compared to toon and forum account names, if anybody beside you is able to log into your account they are also able to lock you out of your own account. That's better than having all of your skills, items, and AWD stolen, but it might take a while before AW Support would be able to sort out the issue, verify that you are the rightful account holder, change your login/password combination, and let you back into your account.
Though it's not the easiest method for the devs, the cleanest way to prevent such problems is to ensure maximum security in the communication links between the game, the forum, and players' computers. Hopefully they have the skills necessary to either ensure the security of the forum software by modifying it themselves or have some way of creating the communications links themselves with full security measures.
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I have had a look for SMF 2.02 security issues and cannot see any mention of SQL injection vulnerabilities. The main vulnerabilities reported are "remote" vulnerabilities (i.e. HTML injection and Cross Site Scripting) - these impact the end users (us) rather than the local SMF server.
This excludes any use of user customized controls (i.e. controls imported into SMF by Dedicated Logic from 3rd parties).
We also need to remember that currently AWA (and most likely AWS) is not a RCE - it is a sandboxed game where there is no game mechanism to withdraw value. Hence the game will obey the First Law of Sandboxing: Items can be changed from one form to another, however they ultimately cannot be created or destroyed.
The loss of control to your account could be annoying (i.e. your avatar can be stripped of all items) - however, returning the items back to the rightful owner is a loss-less exercise (i.e. neither the rightful account holder nor Dedicated Logic will incur a financial impact).
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Having worked in security from both sides, I can tell you that the password here needs to be different to your ingame one - if not, change it NOW - don't waste time reading the rest of this post, it can wait.
Well shit. Looks like the password here syncs with ingame. While it's a nice feature to be able to set your own ingame password, it should be different from forum
Assume that this password will be hacked - people are trying to find vulnerabilities, and attacking any avenue available. People are lazy, and will use the same password on multiple sites, exposing themselves to further damage should the password be stolen. If you can't cope with a different password for every site, consider using different ones for different levels - a forum password (that would just be an annoyance if it were breached), a personal info password (for email and such) and then different passwords for your major ones - bank accounts, health accounts, etc - ones that would cause major headaches if they should be discovered.
Find your password in a dictionary? throw it out - no good
Leet speak (change 1 letter for a number, L for 1 etc) - throw it out - no good
Add a number at the end? throw it out - no good (getting the idea yet?)
There are 4 items to put into a password - lowercase, uppercase, numbers and symbols. A secure password has all 4. Try to incorporate them all.
use a password manager if you must (but be aware those can be hacked too) - lastpass has 2 factor authentication (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_factor_authentication), so is a good choice. I haven't looked at others, but if they don't have 2 factor, then they are as vulnerable as the next password
2 factor authentication should be used whenever possible - If you tried to log onto my gmail account, you would then need the word/code that google sends to my phone.
But, after saying all this, the biggest weakness in the whole chain is the human one.
password for chocolate (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3639679.stm)
Social engineering (http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/social-engineering-fundamentals-part-i-hacker-tactics)
As a security consultant, this was by far the easiest way to get info. The next most successful was freebies - a few small (256k) USB drives, given away as "Corporate Gifts" was one of the easiest ways to get in (trojans hidden ready to autorun when the drives were plugged in), so the security of passwords on a forum such as this is not a great concern. Just be aware of the possibilities, and don't get carried away - Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean anyone really cares about you.
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Having worked in security from both sides, I can tell you that the password here needs to be different to your ingame one - if not, change it NOW - don't waste time reading the rest of this post, it can wait.
Changing you password here - changes your in-game one to the same time to the same value.
And your password now must contain both an upper cased letter and a number (along with being at least 8 characters long)
However, I absolutely love sites that use two factor authentication ... my favorite kind is one where you have a password and a secret phrase. To log in you need your user id, password and then are required to enter three randomly selected characters from the secret phase. Key loggers and other hateful stuff fail under that criteria.
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I have had a look for SMF 2.02 security issues and cannot see any mention of SQL injection vulnerabilities. The main vulnerabilities reported are "remote" vulnerabilities (i.e. HTML injection and Cross Site Scripting) - these impact the end users (us) rather than the local SMF server.
one sample
http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/18214/ (http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/18214/)
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I am not sure if a vulnerability in SMF 2.01 (Published: 2011-12-07) is applicable to SMF 2.02.
If you can find a report applicable to the current version then this may be more relevant.
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I posted it as proof of concept.. Like "it has been done".
I don't argue the claim that, for now, nothing appears to exist of this nature in public.. Being sort of paranoid I do not expect it to last.. only honest hackers make their creation public.. other lot either sell theirs for money or abuses it themselves...
Pointless to argue over it though.. I just hope AW Devs thought the things properly trough and minimized as many risks as possible :)
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Assume that this password will be hacked
couldnt have said it better myself
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I am not sure if a vulnerability in SMF 2.01 (Published: 2011-12-07) is applicable to SMF 2.02.
If you can find a report applicable to the current version then this may be more relevant.
ah there is the problem. you hit it on the head. You are using a program that must be upgraded routinely to make sure it doesnt have a vuln. Im not a SMF person, but i bet 2.02 was to fix the 2.01 vuln. If you didnt go look to see if there was an upgrade you were in danger. Go look how many SMF boards are still on 2.01. i bet more then 50%. I like The daisy work in security and you can never trust any peice of software to be up to date and safe from vulns unless you spend a good deal of time and $ to have the right programs in your system to watch it. I have one of those on my windows machines (securnia PSI) but never found that program for web based applications, and i bet my web based servers are out of date, i haven't checked them in a good 3 weeks.
Nah that couldnt happen here? Wiki is v 1.13.2 Current 1.19.1
the only way to control this is to not use software where you dont control the code.
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In an ideal world of unlimited funds, resources, time , knowledge, training.............
In a perfect world i will design things for others to build that are perfect.
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In a perfect world i will design things for others to build that are perfect.
If you care, if you try, if you follow up, you will write code that matters. But only you will be in control of your own code.
My problem is not perfect code, I havent seen that ever. Its using un-perfect "public" code for my ingame security. Just unlatch the two and ill be happy. There security code ingame is probably not perfect, but I know they wrote it and control it.
and if you haven't figured it out, yes I will fight this with what I think needs to be done. :)
Last seen in Saransk West at Outpost / Storages - Dead, run out of guns/melee/Hks
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Dont get me wrong, i am not a fan of the password secutity strategy here as it stands, i just thought i'd try and get some feet back on the ground before the conversation got to a stage where theory and practicality lost their comnnection :)
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In fact there's only minimal customization needed: not user privilege level defines the right to change passwords, the server where the password DB runs simply accepts only a certain account and it's password can be reset only locally.
After this you can hack the forum and get admin rights there as much as u want, it doesn't matter.
I don't know how to break this (assuming the password on this special account is secure), maybe somebody does, or at least has heard it was successfully hacked?
OK, there's always a possibility that the core servers themselves are hacked, but i think we can safely leave this scenario aside, if we presume this can be done everything becomes pointless anyway.
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I do agree that the strategy of having the in-game password linked to the forum password is a higher risk to player accounts than the strategy of having the in-game password controlled via the email reset process for AWA.
I would prefer to have these two separate.
A strategy that retains the AWA process with an additional action where a forum account is created and the password reset link is emailed to the account holders email address when the account holder first logs into the game would be preferred.
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+1 Jane - linking the two seems to be adding a level of insecurity I would not wish to see. seems I will not be changing the password on Forum for quite a while :)
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A strategy that retains the AWA process with an additional action where a forum account is created and the password reset link is emailed to the account holders email address when the account holder first logs into the game would be preferred.
Have to disagree.
I consider the chances that the e-mail account of the average user will be hacked considerably higher than the probability of losing the password as a result of someone hacking the forum.
It's a good example actually, reminds us that nothing in this world is 100% secure. If you want 100% security, close all your accounts, power off your modem and and never use it again :P
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A strategy that retains the AWA process with an additional action where a forum account is created and the password reset link is emailed to the account holders email address when the account holder first logs into the game would be preferred.
Have to disagree.
I consider the chances that the e-mail account of the average user will be hacked considerably higher than the probability of losing the password as a result of someone hacking the forum.
It's a good example actually, reminds us that nothing in this world is 100% secure. If you want 100% security, close all your accounts, power off your modem and and never use it again :P
Given that my game email address is less public than the existence of this forum:
I would rate the risk of my email address being hacked as a very unlikely 5 out of 36.
While I would rate the risk of this forum / my forum password being hacked at a unlikely 10 out of 36
What is your rating?
(see the attached chart)
Note: risk is all about perception.
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All these "less public e-mail accounts" are hacked en masse daily. Only difference is, this goes unnoticed because there's even more people who's account was not hacked. When vulnerability was found in a certain open source code it will be published all over internet.
Difference is only in how much publicity this or that will receive, not the real security level.
The same goes for the famous slogan "If two systems use the same password it's less secure".
Compare: applications on 2 systems (both obviously directly accessible from the internet) that are using 3rd server (not accessible from the internet at all) as their password database; with: just 1 server that has both the application and the password database and is directly accessible from the internet. Suffices someone hacks this single server and BAM, your lost all your passwords.
Or this slogan: "If there's a password consider it will be hacked!" Sounds terribly wise, but if u look closely, it's the same as a lawyer who declares: "All cases will be lost!". Only difference is - such a lawyer will be out of job but security consultant will get a rise.
Reality is, the secure systems can be built, secure passwords that cannot be hacked can be created and it seems all the same and equally hopeless only for those who have no idea how exactly things work.
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There is a well published survey comparing peoples attitudes to the risks associated to living beside a Nuclear power station and crossing the road.
Most people got the risk rating wrong.
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Why not have Gold cards (for wanting a better name) Like the other game has or pin system when you start the game that has nothing to do with the forum like Aion Has ... i would be happy then ... other than that ... different passwords for the forum and game.
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A combination of digital and physical two-factor authentication is probably the highest possible security that is feasible for a game, however the physical side is probably fairly expensive, at least in terms of start-up costs. Once your volume gets high enough the costs get very cheap, but the first few hundred units could cost thousands of dollars to get to your customers.
On the other hand the all-digital pin system, especially one that changes with each login, is very cheap. I think they'd be smart to take Google's two-factor authentication system and use it for logging into AWS and the forums (especially after it becomes fully RCE) by creating authentication apps for Android, iOS, WinPhone, BlackBerry, and maybe others as well. It would have to be optional since not everybody has a mobile phone and you'd have to opt-in and link your mobile number to your game account, but it would solve a lot of the potential issues and cost the devs very little. If the app contacted a specialized authentication server to request a new pin at each login it would be faster than waiting for a pin to be sent to the phone like with Google's system.
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It should be possible to piggy back off the google app. lastpass does this, and the api is open source: https://code.google.com/p/google-authenticator/
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Thanks everyone for participation.
We are very aware about the potential security issues this (same login/password for game and forum) could lead to.
At first, we would like to inform you, that this forum is constantly being modded by us. We had to rewrite the authorization module here in order to get it connected with authorization module of the game (it is a complex system).
Second, we don't store or transmit any passwords in plan text, so there is no way to retrieve it.
Even I don't have ability to change the password for anyone else except myself via forum software, and the Administrator's account is restricted from accessing the forum only from the internal network, where the web server is physically located.
Fifth shared some good info:
Now the password changing procedure. What exactly happens when passwords are changed?
If you change your password yourself, your old password is asked first, encrypted, sent to the server which will compare this hash with the hash stored in it's database. If this operation succeeds the old password hash is overwritten with the new password hash. Nowhere in the whole process is the encrypted password decrypted into human-readable form.
If it is administrator who changes your password for you, the administrator password has to be entered first, all the rest is the same. It's the administrators responsibility to have a good, safe password on his account.
You can read more about password hashing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_hashing) and salt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_%28cryptography%29) by following links (wikipedia).
Next... the database itself is split into "parts", so there are no chances that gaining access to one section will give you ability to get to others. The access to the databases is restricted by some complex rules, and to get full access to the database is possible only from the devs' office (where servers are physically located).
Now, about integration of the 2 factor authentication (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_factor_authentication) or other ways (getting additional pin-code via SMS, like in Google)...
We would love to implement it, but we don't have funds for this atm.
In a close future we will implement additional protection like "lock to IP" and "lock to computer", so you will need to do more steps in order to authenticate yourself if you try to login not from your "home computer".
As of using open-source forum software... There are no 100%-secure forum software. We have chosen SMF over others because it is easier to change the authentication mechanism and integrate it with the game database.
We continue working on it by extending its functionality and improving the security. We have already changed internals on how the login/password are parsed, and will do even more on that topic.
Thanks again for sharing your ideas and thoughts, keep it coming. We are watching the discussion very close.
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In a close future we will implement additional protection like "lock to IP" and "lock to computer", so you will need to do more steps in order to authenticate yourself if you try to login not from your "home computer".
The lock to IP may not work as many people have dynamic IP address so would have to use redirection software such as "DNS2GO" to keep track of their changing ip addy.. which may be beyond the average player to use.
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In a close future we will implement additional protection like "lock to IP" and "lock to computer", so you will need to do more steps in order to authenticate yourself if you try to login not from your "home computer".
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Thanks for sharing this information.
In regards to the above text - could you reveal more about what addition steps will be involved (e.g. if there method makes the player go to their email account to verify themselves by clicking a link)?
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The MMOs i have played with lLock To IP request the Answer to a Secret Question, to proceed.
You are normally required to provide 1 - 3 questions and answers when the game is setup.
Zen
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In a close future we will implement additional protection like "lock to IP" and "lock to computer", so you will need to do more steps in order to authenticate yourself if you try to login not from your "home computer".
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Thanks for sharing this information.
In regards to the above text - could you reveal more about what addition steps will be involved (e.g. if there method makes the player go to their email account to verify themselves by clicking a link)?
There are a couple of ways to get that.
It may require you to enter the answer for the secret question, enter additional pin-code or draw a figure (similar to HTC Android phones unlock feature).
Any ideas are welcomed! The more ways to authenticate, the more secure it will be (as a potential breaker will need to choose between lots of authentication methods and only some are valid)
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In a close future we will implement additional protection like "lock to IP" and "lock to computer", so you will need to do more steps in order to authenticate yourself if you try to login not from your "home computer".
The lock to IP may not work as many people have dynamic IP address so would have to use redirection software such as "DNS2GO" to keep track of their changing ip addy.. which may be beyond the average player to use.
might be good idea to at least have such option among others choices..
I got dynamic IP which depends on NIC MAC address. As long as MAC stays same, I have same public IP all the time, even after network modem and firewall reboot.. There are other ISPs having DHCP servers giving IP-s out based on MAC..
good news that forum software is being heavily modified, less chance that exploits working on SMF generally would work on this forum. And that databases are compartmentalized..
what about card with passwords..? identical to ones being used by banks but sent to email. Player could simply print it out at home, and delete the email afterwards. And upon login into game, you get asked for user name, password, and then numbered password from that card.. That "card" could be generated by Support and being sent to player as pdf file in email attachment. PDF for better printing quality. At least some added security, since all that trojan could see from numbered password that it´s different each time, and number of a password asked is not showing in captured keyboard log.
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At first, we would like to inform you, that this forum is constantly being modded by us. We had to rewrite the authorization module here in order to get it connected with authorization module of the game (it is a complex system).
Second, we don't store or transmit any passwords in plan text, so there is no way to retrieve it.
Even I don't have ability to change the password for anyone else except myself via forum software, and the Administrator's account is restricted from accessing the forum only from the internal network, where the web server is physically located.
Fifth shared some good info:
Now the password changing procedure. What exactly happens when passwords are changed?
If you change your password yourself, your old password is asked first, encrypted, sent to the server which will compare this hash with the hash stored in it's database. If this operation succeeds the old password hash is overwritten with the new password hash. Nowhere in the whole process is the encrypted password decrypted into human-readable form.
If it is administrator who changes your password for you, the administrator password has to be entered first, all the rest is the same. It's the administrators responsibility to have a good, safe password on his account.
You can read more about password hashing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_hashing) and salt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_%28cryptography%29) by following links (wikipedia).
Next... the database itself is split into "parts", so there are no chances that gaining access to one section will give you ability to get to others. The access to the databases is restricted by some complex rules, and to get full access to the database is possible only from the devs' office (where servers are physically located).
Now, about integration of the 2 factor authentication (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_factor_authentication) or other ways (getting additional pin-code via SMS, like in Google)...
We would love to implement it, but we don't have funds for this atm.
In a close future we will implement additional protection like "lock to IP" and "lock to computer", so you will need to do more steps in order to authenticate yourself if you try to login not from your "home computer".
As of using open-source forum software... There are no 100%-secure forum software. We have chosen SMF over others because it is easier to change the authentication mechanism and integrate it with the game database.
We continue working on it by extending its functionality and improving the security. We have already changed internals on how the login/password are parsed, and will do even more on that topic.
Thanks again for sharing your ideas and thoughts, keep it coming. We are watching the discussion very close.
It's great to read that you are not only aware of the potential security issues and that you are capable of implementing increased precautions and safeguards, but that you have already implemented many methods! I, for one, feel much more confident that my game/forum login and password are safe.
As for the 2-factor authentication via SMS or email, could you explain where the costs lie in implementing it? I haven't tried anything like it myself, but it seems like the only cost would be labor hours based on the skill levels your group has shown. Are there licensing costs of some kind or does it come down to not having available devices to test the system? If the problem is test devices (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, etc.), you could always implement the system as an optional choice for the kinds of devices you already have access to (I'm assuming that's at least one of the three main mobile OSs) and add other OSs later on.
For "lock to IP/computer," it sounds like a good setup for me. I mostly only play on my home tower but I sometimes like to play on my laptop when I'm away from home, and since it's fairly rare, I wouldn't mind having to answer a security question, enter a pin, or provide a second-level password in those cases. On the other hand, some couples play together and will likely switch PCs from time to time, so this might be more annoying for them.
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The complexity of implementing other security features was why I wondered if the email verification method was going to be used.
Dedicated Logic already have processes to 'activate' an account (this is part of the new account process).
Detection of a security risk could re-invoke the activation process by placing the account in a 'de-activated' state then send an email to the account
holders email account with an activation code / link (existing process).
Clicking on the link / entering the activation code then re-activates the account and the player logs on as usual.
The advantage of this is that most people have fast and easy access to their email accounts, and the effort and cost for DL to implement this is low.
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True, but the potential problems Fifth brings up are valid too. If there was a way to ensure that players had very secure email account passwords, I think that would be the default idea. But since so many people's email accounts are hacked every day, it creates a big potential for reduced security.
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True, but the potential problems Fifth brings up are valid too. If there was a way to ensure that players had very secure email account passwords, I think that would be the default idea. But since so many people's email accounts are hacked every day, it creates a big potential for reduced security.
1. If someone's email account is hacked - then I suspect having it linked to a game is the least of their worries.
2. The implication here is that the email account has been hacked with the sole intention of getting access to the players in-game account.
3. A lack of personal security is something DL should not have to address.
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All are possibly true, but that doesn't mean that the devs shouldn't take it into account either. If they want to assure people that their game is as safe as possible, they need to avoid potentially easy sources for players' accounts to be hacked. And if all it took to take over any rich player's account was a reset email, you can bet your bottom dollar there will be people trying hard to hack that account.
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The hacker would need to know the following:- The player's game login
- The player's game password
- The player's email address
- The player's email password
In my humble opinion, the risk that a hacker would have all the above is minuscule.
In addition, this risk is already existing in Alpha:
- If you know the player's email address - you currently can get player's password reset and have a new one given to you by email
However - you do not know the players login so cannot get login as that player - If you know the player's login - you can get the player's password reset
However - you do not know the players email account name nor password so cannot login as the player
- If you know the player's login and the player's email address and email password - you can get into the game
If a player has revealed their login name and email address and have an easy password and have signed up to an email service that has not implemented simple security features then no amount of security will help.
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For us, gamers, instant access is important, we dont want to wait to get entry to the game.
Secret question works well, or its equivalents, because it has no real delay, you log on, it says you need to answer question, you answer it and all is normal, it has slowed you down maybe 20 seconds.
Methods that really on external aspects such as emails or devices require you to have that device with you if you are on a different PC, or have your default email already setup and available on the different PC.
This is why Secret Question is really the standard in MMOs for IP change.
I appreciate "some" people would have a resolution to the email aspect, and "some" people would happily carry a device with them, but "all" will be able to answer the Secret Question, again, that is why it is used by other MMOs.
Personally i dont carry a smart phone,( i dont even own a smart phone, i have no need for those aspects) or a handbag with me when out ;) If i am travelling and i have the game on a laptop i can have email setup but i still dont really want to rely on the email for the ability to play, it still has potential for a problem that can delay entry.
These are just my preferences, i am sure others will have alternate preferences.
Zen
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Zen, I agree with you completely here - not everybody will want to go through extreme measures to log into a game. But some people wouldn't want it any other way, which is why I suggest an optional additional security measure that could be enabled or disabled by each player. Take EU's Gold Card for example: if you purchase it (or have one sent to you based on your deposit total) and enable it, you will be required to use it to log into your account, but if you don't have one or don't enable it you can still log into your account without it.
And the point about email taking a while is probably the best reason not to use it. Many times an email comes through, but more often than you might expect there are long delays between an email being sent and when it is received. The same is true for SMS messages, unfortunately. These facts being the case, I can see why the Secret Question has been the primary way to increase security in other MMOs. The questions are already on the server, all we have to do is provide the answers.
So the best way to provide a combination of extra security and account-owner customization is to require at least one Secret Question, but allow several more. And the best way to answer those questions is with answers that do not make sense for the question to make the SQs even more effective.
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Account tied up to a certain IP or MAC address, and the secret question(s) will pop up only if it's different than last time when you logged in - that seems like reasonably safe solution without too much hassle.
Even if you don't have static IP, the ISP's usually tend to give you the same IP again rather than a new one, especially if it changes while your modem is switched on. Most ppl don't plug off their modem very often anyway... so most likely you won't be bugged with this secret question very often either.
For those people who want extra security (and are happy with the additional hassle) there could be an optional GoldCard-type system (just a file with a list of unique numbers sent to your e-mail) or a security phone-app - sometimes in the future...
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as long as you define the question yourself.
Unfortunately, there are too many What City Were you born in? type questions, and people answer them honestly. This type of info is fairly easy to find out.
The additional questions are not real 2 factor authentication either - It's just a front, the same as a second password. You should assume it's just as secure as your password is.
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Exactly, the questions need to be created by the user to get the best security out of such a system.
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hello people wanted to do a query that happened to our characters were deleted the old version or something? all modes this account that the ise haro estoi using my other user recently was fantasmarg if I could answer from Chuchas and thanks. ::)
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hello people wanted to do a query that happened to our characters were deleted the old version or something? all modes this account that the ise haro estoi using my other user recently was fantasmarg if I could answer from Chuchas and thanks. ::)
Ummm - sorry, cannot work out what you are saying. Perhaps you should rephrase your post? Maybe using a translator like translate.google.com. (https://my.afterworld.deelogic.net/survival/translate.google.com.)
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You at the moment have 2 avatars. 1 in the old game one in survival. The old game account is the active account. IF it gains skill you keep it. The account in the new game is a test account. Whatever you do to it will be deleted at some point.
I think that is what you asked.