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jmullyesterday at 9:30 PM1 replyview on HN

People shouldn't be downvoting this...

Hashing client-side is a good idea. You must also hash server-side, for storage/comparison.

Otherwise, an insider may be able to harvest the original password, from logs, proxies, load balancers, etc. that requests pass through after the end of the TLS connection, on the way to the db.

They can then try the credentials on other, perhaps more lucrative sites. That's what the brothers are accused of doing here, so client-side hashing (or just simple encryption) may have been the missing piece of security that would have thwarted the credential stealing.


Replies

necovekyesterday at 11:38 PM

I wonder how common are setups where an internal person has access to the TLS private key part of the certificate or access to a network equipment that all traffic passes through, yet they cannot access the inputs required for hashing/encryption client-side?

This seems to mostly prevent accidental logging and is thus a matter of defense in depth, stopping malicious actors from exploiting it later — but an actively malicious IT person would not be deterred.

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