Ensuring Strong Password Practices

In today's interconnected digital world, password security remains a cornerstone of safeguarding sensitive information. Despite awareness campaigns, many users continue to reuse the same password across multiple platforms. This behavior introduces a critical vulnerability: if one platform gets breached and its password database is leaked, all other accounts sharing that password are at risk.

As developers, we can mitigate this threat by incorporating breach-detection mechanisms into our software, ensuring that our users and employees use secure, uncompromised passwords.

In this article, I propose a practical solution using breach data services like Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) to periodically sync and validate passwords within an application.

The Problem: Reused and Breached Passwords

• Reused Passwords: Users often reuse passwords to reduce cognitive load, inadvertently increasing their risk across platforms.

• Data Breaches: Breaches from one platform leak credentials (email-password pairs), which hackers then use to compromise other accounts through credential stuffing.

• Organizational Risks: Employees using breached passwords can expose sensitive corporate data, leading to severe financial and reputational damages.

The Solution: Integrating Breach Detection in Applications

The goal is to proactively detect and block compromised passwords in two scenarios:

1. During User Registration or Password Update: Prevent users from setting up a password that has been exposed in a breach.

2. Periodic Validation of Existing Passwords: Periodically scan employee or user passwords against a database of breached credentials.

Key Security Best Practice: Never Send User Passwords Directly to APIs

One critical principle in implementing breach detection is to never send the password entered by a user directly to any third-party API, including "Have I Been Pwned" or similar services.

Why?

Sending passwords in real-time to external services creates two significant risks:

1. Potential Data Leakage: There's a risk that the external service might log or store the newly entered password.

2. Compliance and Trust: Sending sensitive user data outside your application may violate privacy laws and erode user trust.

Best Practice:

• Use APIs like HIBP's Pwned Passwords API to download breached password hashes periodically.

• Store these hashes locally in your application's database.

• Validate user passwords locally by hashing the entered password and comparing it with your synced breached password database.

Implementation Plan

To achieve this, follow a structured approach:

1. Set Up a Local Database of Breached Passwords

• Periodically sync the breached password database from a reliable provider like HIBP using their API.

• Store the hashed versions (e.g., SHA-1) of these passwords locally for faster and safer lookups.

2. Real-Time Password Validation

• When a user sets a new password or updates their existing one:

  • Hash the password using the same algorithm as the breach database.

  • Compare the hashed password with your local database.

  • If a match is found, reject the password and prompt the user to choose a secure alternative.

3. Periodic Password Audits

• Implement a service that runs at regular intervals (e.g., every 7 days).

• Retrieve the hashed passwords of all users/employees from your application database.

• Cross-check these passwords against your local breach database.

• Notify users if their passwords are found in the breach data and enforce a password reset.

Other Providers for Breach Data

While Have I Been Pwned is a well-known and trusted service, other providers also offer excellent breach data:

1. Dehashed:

   • Provides extensive breach data for emails, passwords, and personal details.

   • Offers a powerful API for automated queries.

When choosing a provider, consider the coverage, API costs, frequency of updates, and integration flexibility for your application.

Benefits of This Approach

1. Enhanced Security: Proactively prevents the use of compromised passwords, mitigating the risk of account takeovers.

2. User Education: Encourages better password hygiene by rejecting weak or reused passwords.

3. Privacy Compliance: Ensures sensitive user data never leaves your application, preserving trust and meeting regulatory requirements.

4. Automated Monitoring: Keeps your organization and users secure without requiring manual intervention.

Challenges and Considerations

• Data Privacy: Ensure all password comparisons are conducted using secure hashes. Avoid storing plaintext passwords at any stage.

• API Costs and Rate Limits: Some services impose rate limits or charge for access. Optimize sync frequency to manage these costs.

• User Experience: Clearly communicate password rejection reasons or reset requirements to users.

Conclusion

Integrating breach detection into your application is a powerful way to enhance password security for users and employees. By periodically syncing breach data from reliable providers and performing local password validations, you protect your application while maintaining user trust and compliance.

In an era of escalating data breaches, taking proactive steps like these isn't just an enhancement—it's an essential part of responsible software development.