RE: Password "security" - was"Passwords with Lan Manager (LM) und er Windows" and "Whitespace in passwords"

From: Dufresne, Pierre (PIERRE.DUFRESNE@MESS.GOUV.QC.CA)
Date: Fri Oct 14 2005 - 18:47:54 EDT


Hi Marco,

I have read about this tool too. But there are pretty important requirements
on using it. One that reassures me is that (text taken from their help
file):
"If files were encrypted under Windows XP (with or without SP1) or Windows
Server 2003, the password of user who encrypted the files (or Recovery
Agent) is needed for decryption."

If one of our laptop is stolen, access to the password of the user will not
be easy. Our laptops are part of a domain and the cached credentials would
also be protected by SYSKEY.

I am not an expert either, but I think EFS can be made stronger if you
complement it with other protection measures, like SYSKEY in mode 2.
I posted in this forum to see if anyone could tell me how the combination I
provided could be pen-tested.

Thanks

-----Original Message-----
From: Marco Ivaldi [mailto:raptor@0xdeadbeef.info]
Sent: 11 octobre 2005 05:53
To: pen-test@securityfocus.com
Subject: RE: Password "security" - was"Passwords with Lan Manager (LM) under
Windows" and "Whitespace in passwords"

Hey pen-testers,

As usual i apologize for coming late to the party, just wanted to point
out this tool:

http://www.elcomsoft.com/aefsdr.html
http://www.elcomsoft.com/help/aefsdr/index.html?page=how_aefsdr_works.htm

"Advanced EFS Data Recovery (or AEFSDR) is a program to recover (decrypt)
files encrypted on NTFS (EFS) partitions created in Windows 2000, Windows
XP and Windows Server 2003. Files are being decrypted even in a case when
the system is not bootable and so you cannot log on, and/or some
encryption keys have been tampered. Besides, decryption is possible even
when Windows is protected using SYSKEY. AEFSDR effectively (and instantly)
decrypts the files protected under all versions Windows Server 2003
(Standard and Enterprise), Windows XP (including Service Packs 1 and 2)
and Windows 2000 (including Service Packs 1, 2, 3 and 4)."

I've not tested it and i doubt it would work with the Password Startup
SYSKEY option (so the setup you're suggesting should be basically safe),
moreover i'm by no means a Windows expert, but EFS doesn't seem such a
strong protection to me.

Just my 2 euro-cents,

-- 
Marco Ivaldi
Antifork Research, Inc.   http://0xdeadbeef.info/
3B05 C9C5 A2DE C3D7 4233  0394 EF85 2008 DBFD B707
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