Security the MS way: Protecting you from yourself!

I have always maintained that Microsoft's security policy is essentially to stop you from doing anything stupid. The concept in itself is fairly sound, but the implementation is not. In the classic Operating System debate of Windows versus Linux, the biggest point Linux users make is that they can modify any part of the operating system to suit their needs and desires. When I used Windows XP, I had found all the little secrets to get my machine to do what I wanted it to do. But, I digress.

Microsoft basically adopted the "protect the users from themselves" approach in earnest in Windows Vista. There are several reason why I (and others) am not too fond of Vista, but that aside. The idea is sound in theory, but the implemenatation of it left so much to be desired. In hiding all the knifes from the kids, they also hid all the forks and spoons. Yes, I agree that some of the functionalities should not be available to normal users, but it should be available to admin users.

A whole plethora of useful features were hidden, but we shan't go into that now. The main thing is this article. Now I know I'm a bit late to jump onto this, but I have been a tad lazy. Moving on. So it seems that Hotmail will ban common and quite frankly shit passwords. This is a good and a bad thing.

As I have pointed out before, passwords can be tricky things. For something iek your e-mail account, you need a decent password. So now if Hotmail will reject your password because it's shit, that good right? Well, yes and no. It does stop dictionary attacks, however it drastically changes the search space.

Previously, an attacker would run dictionary attacks in the hope that somebody was a fool. Now that cannot happen then the system is foolproof right? Yes, but to quote Douglas Adams "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." It may sound a touch misanthropic, but people are stupid. 


Eventually what is going to happen is that people will find that people will find the least complex passwords that pass through the Hotmail filter and then use those passwords repeatedly. Now dictionary based attacks kick in again, just with a new dictionary. The dictionaries may be larger than previously, but it may not be a significant amount.


So, it is a good idea and I am very much in favour of this, but it could also backfire. Only time will tell, we shall wait and see.