My Lab 3

I was doing my lab 3 on 28^th July 2009. In this lab 3, I learned about the authentication and basic cryptography. Through this lab, I know how to implement data encryption, local password policy on Windows 2003 and implement asymmetric cryptography by using Pretty Good Privacy(PGP).

In Task 1, I was using NTFS for data encryption because NTFS let you not limited to folder and file level security. By using NTFS implement data encryption, it does make it more difficult to let unauthorized hack into our system. Authentication is the process of verifying the identity of a person for the purposes of accessing information on computer information. If the length of passwords is very short, this will make unauthorized more easier to crack. So, I was set the password length must be at least 8 characters to increase security in Windows 2003.

I was learning how to set the password complexity by using the Windows 2003 Local Password Policy setting. With the Windows 2003 password complexity policy, a user required to use at least 1 number, 1 uppercase letter,1 lowercase letter, or 1 symbol. Combining password length with complexity is a recommended method of most security professionals. When I try to login by enter a simple password, it was failed and I have to meets requirement that I wrote just now.

Next, I continued with my Task 4 that is setting an Account Lockout Policy. Why we need to set up this? This is because an account lockout policy will disable an account for a specific amount of time after a certain number of failed logon attempts. This can help delay a successful hack attempt or better yet, discourage the hacker from continuing.

The last practical that I done was task 5 which is encryption and decryption using PGP. Firstly, I installed my PGP software in my virtual machine. I was writing a plaintext and encrypt it with my PGP into an unreadable gibberish called ciphertext in order to hide my information from everyone. After distribute my public key and saved it in my thumb drive, my friend was received it and import to their PGP keys. Next, my friend was decrypting my message by choosing the private key and passphrase. Finally, my friend can read my original message.