PS-Password Manager for the AS/400
By Jim Martin
PentaSafe is bringing password scanning to the AS/400 with the release of PS-PasswordManager.
Scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 1999, PS-Password Manager uses a dictionary of 124,000 words and scans an AS/400 to pinpoints any weak or easily identified passwords. It then compiles a report displaying a list of the users who use easily guessed passwords.
PS-PasswordManager gives the administrator several options to ensure the user changes their password—such as shutting down the user or forcing a change of password upon the user’s next log-in.
“Passwords are the most basic level of security….and they are every company’s first line of defense against data security breaches. If your users’ passwords are not effective, you have wide open doors into your 400 and it only gets worse if your box can be accessed remotely,” says Jim Stracka, chief technology officer of PentaSafe. “PS-Password provides administrators with stronger, more effective control over the kind of passwords that are chosen by users. Until now, there has been no real way to check passwords on the AS/400.”
The PS-PasswordManager is made up of password cracker programs which employ the same encryption algorithms against a word list and then looks for matches. There are two versions of PS-PasswordManager. The first version provides added security, showing only the name of the person, not the password that they use. The second version provides the name of the user and the password.