[Cryptography] encrypting bcrypt hashes

[Tom Mitchell]

On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 2:45 AM, Robin Wood <robin at digininja.org> wrote:
> Hi
> I've been asked by a client to give some advice on hashing and as it isn't
> my area I'm looking for someone who knows what they are talking about.
.....
> What do people think?

Interesting discussion... One developer specific question I would want answered
is what facilitates moving forward immediately and in the future.

So plan one data system reorganization that will work for at least two
improvements seen in this discussion.

What data structures and elements in the database need to be resized and added?
These conversions are often constrained by customer visible down time,
reliability,
management oversight.

>From this discussion I can see a need for clarity in a conversion from
old to new
in the database and from the discussion I can see a multitude of
options to improve
system security.

One element is 'access' method(s).   This hangs on the last password change
and will become the current best method after a change.

Slightly risky is a login process that has the password, validates on
the old method
and then updates the system with the old password using the new method.
Thus the system needs to know both the old and new methods and data.
This conversion is transparent to the customer.   Short and foolish passwords
can be flagged for attention or mandated action.

Multiple access methods seem necessary, two factor with SMS for example.
N.B. the chaos the Social Security Admin triggered by 'requiring' a method
that involved a device (SMS phone) that their customers might have.

Recovery methods get important the better the encryption method set is.
If the data is encrypted with the customer password the password cannot
be replaced without data loss.


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