[591] in winnt
RE: Logins win 98 to NT
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Paul B. Hill)
Tue Nov 14 13:41:56 2000
Message-Id: <200011141841.NAA14782@melbourne-city-street.MIT.EDU>
From: "Paul B. Hill" <pbh@MIT.EDU>
To: Dave Broderick <djbroder@mit.edu>, ntpartners@mit.edu
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 18:44:00 GMT
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It depends. NTLMv2 authentication is available for Windows 98 but that doesn't mean that it is being used. Nor does that imply that the password can't be cracked by other well documented means.
The password for LAN MAN, and NTLM is not being sent in clear text, but the algorithm is well known and weak. The prudent assumption is that the password has been compromised. The optimistic assumption is that nobody has bothered yet, but if someone takes an interest it will take about 10 minutes of affordable CPU time.
<http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q239/8/69.ASP> tells how to enable NTLM v2 authentication for 95, 98, NT, and 2000.
Note that even if you do this the NT system will generate and store the LAN MAN form of the password. Most NT systems on campus are probably configured so that an attacker could gain access to this store and use available programs to crack the password even if NTLMv2 is being used on the wire. Still, your best practice is to make sure you are using NTLMv2 on the wire at this time.
Paul
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Broderick [mailto:djbroder@MIT.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 1:19 PM
> To: ntpartners@mit.edu
> Subject: Logins win 98 to NT
>
>
> I'm afraid I know the answer to this already, but...
>
> A guy has an NT machine and a Win 98 machine. Two machines.
> He logs in on
> the Win 98 machine, using the same username and password he
> uses on his NT
> machine (he is the owner/administrator). He finds he can
> easily access the
> shares on his NT machine.
>
> Question: is his password traveling in clear text? If so, any way to
> encrypt this?
>
> thanks
>
> Dave Broderick
> Senior Audio Visual Specialist
> MIT AV 617 253 2808
> http://web.mit.edu/djbroder/www
>
