Members Passwords

[Chatsie]

I've just visited a free host support forum and came

across a topic where a 14 yr old Admin of a forum asked

how he could see his members passwords !!



It's the first time I've come across such a question and have

to wonder why he wants to see everyone's password.

Either he's new to forums or he has some other reason for

wanting to know. Of course, he's been told he can't.



It did make me wonder though whether 'hosts' (free or paid),

do actually have access to the passwords of the Admins and

members.

 

[DrLeftover]

There is no reason any human ever has to see another's password.



If the user forgets theirs it can be reset by an Admin, or the system itself, to a default which will force the user to change it on first log in.



There is no need to see the current.



Unless of course you're trying to log in as the user to do something stupid.

 

[Evil Eye]

There is no reason any human ever has to see another's password.

There is no need to see a password at all.

Plaintext databases are just outright bad, as are reversible password fields.



Of course implementing something to catch passwords would be fairly simple...

 

[Blake]

Forums and allot of other things have the ability to log into a account with out the need of a password so this question he asked was obviously asked so he could steal the passwords. Also a host would know the passwords or how to see them that is the job of the forum software team.

 

[McConnaughay]

Scripts could be utilized to capture a members password however, it's tremendously uncommon to see and very unlikely to succeed, it feels unnecessary to ever need a members password, and if they do need it than they CAN change your password in the administrative control panel but cannot see your password there.

 

[McConnaughay]

I've been on a site where the admin hijacked member passwords, I wouldn't call it uncommon or unlikely to succeed. They don't need it, of course.

In the four years that I have browsed message boards and websites, I've never had a case of this, so I would call it unlikely and uncommon.

 

[Chatsie]

Well one thing is certain, if I ever found out that an Admin

on a forum I was a member of was checking on member's

passwords, I'd be off there in a flash - but I'd make sure

the other members knew what was going on first.



If I'd been on the staff at that support forum, I'd have

been asking that Admin 'why' he wanted access to

his members passwords.

 

[Evil Eye]

You're fortunate that MD5 was standard before you were old enough to get on the computer.

Define fortunate, MD5 has been proven unsafe

 

[Rapunzel]

I used to belong to a great forum. However, one day the admin went on holiday and asked this lady to look after his site whilst he was away. She was a strange woman. She was in a wheelchair and felt the whole world was against her, which tbh, a lot were, but not because of her disability but because of her incredibly rude and negative attitude to everyone. Anyway, the day after she was asked to look after this site, she banned everyone, apart from herself and her friend! And she totally killed the site!



Anyhow, there was another site for the area where members started to meet up and one teenaged boy decided to open a new website for us. So we all joined up. His mum had left home and he lived with his dad whom he hated. He spent hours telling me about his dad and how upset he was with his life and I used to spend hours talking to him via pm, cheering him up, calming him down. There was very little time for anything else but we were friends and I thought I was helping him. Then one day he just said 'I don't want to talk about it anymore' and the next day he sent my harddrive a virus which totally wiped it out! My whole computer was totally fried!



It took quite a few months before we could afford a new computer, but eventually I got back online again. I found some old members and told them what had happened and they said that because he had my password (as I had logged onto his site) he had an open pathway into my computer and could send me a virus which would bypass all firewalls and destroy my computer!



I was SO angry!

I can't tell you how furious I was! I hope one day I can find someone who will hack into his computer and destroy it and make him spend hundreds of pounds buying a new one! What an unbelievable little shit! When I think of how much time I spend being sympathetic to him and boosting his confidence, I just want to punch him in the nose SO hard! Grrrr! I have steam coming out of my ears just thinking about that little piece of shit!

 

[Rapunzel]

I'd really love to understand the logic behind this ridiculous claim.

I don't know I'm not a technogeek, I dont know how it would work. Can you explain what happened?

 

[Rapunzel]

I'd really love to understand the logic behind this ridiculous claim.

My son has said he must have sent a Trojan. Whatever he sent caused the Login screen to fail to boot.



So how would you explain what happened?

 

[Rapunzel]

So what once was a ridiculous claim is now feasible? As you seem to be a computer-geek maybe you could have suggested that option before being so extremely negative?

 

[Rapunzel]

I like your mood. It suits you.