19 replies to this topic

[TGT]

Went to try and purchase the Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam expansion that was on sale today from Direct 2 Drive. For whatever reason, they weren't able to process my order, so my friend decided to gift it to me instead. When I got the e-mail, imagine my surprise when I saw this:



They E-Mailed me my account password in paintext! What does this mean? My username, password and any related information to that account are all stored in a database - unencrypted.

Shocking, especially given the amount of news compromised databases this year.

[THE_OBSERVER]

hahahah thats the funnest one i have seen!

[Alladaskill17]

That, my friend is ridiculous. I never really checked out D2D as I was never a huge PC gamer, but is there a reason you do not use Steam? I doubt Valve would allow this type of behavior.

[TGT]

Alladaskill17, on 24 April 2011 - 02:33, said:

That, my friend is ridiculous. I never really checked out D2D as I was never a huge PC gamer, but is there a reason you do not use Steam? I doubt Valve would allow this type of behavior.

I use and adore Steam. The expansion was on sale though, and I'm cheap (I bought BFBC2 when it was on sale through the EA store).

D2D being a store that deals with financial transactions, I had assumed that they'd be a little more responsible with my data though.

[+Majesticmerc]

I would still say that the data will be encrypted, but it will be 2-way encryption, instead of doing what everyone else does and use a hash. Still, that's pretty apalling to email you your password. I have had websites do that to me as a "forgot your password" reminder, and it still makes me uneasy.

[TGT]

Majesticmerc, on 24 April 2011 - 02:48, said:

I would still say that the data will be encrypted, but it will be 2-way encryption, instead of doing what everyone else does and use a hash. Still, that's pretty apalling to email you your password. I have had websites do that to me as a "forgot your password" reminder, and it still makes me uneasy.

Well then, maybe I've over-reacted.

However, given that the e-mail was automated, wouldn't that suggest that the pass-phrase / function used to encrypt the password would be found somewhere in the source code? If an attacker were to gain access to the database, then they could also gain access to the back-end code as well.

[+Majesticmerc]

TGT, on 24 April 2011 - 03:25, said:

Well then, maybe I've over-reacted.

However, given that the e-mail was automated, wouldn't that suggest that the pass-phrase / function used to encrypt the password would be found somewhere in the source code? If an attacker were to gain access to the database, then they could also gain access to the back-end code as well.

Actually I don't think you did. When the email was sent, it was still sent (most likely) over an insecure path, free for anyone to intercept along the way.

[Tharp Daddy]

You should email / call about this. It may not make a difference, but still bring it to their attention.

[z0phi3l]

How do you know the email was sent in plain text?

[Pupik]

Man, that's some short password you got there.

[TGT]

Ruran, on 24 April 2011 - 13:47, said:

You should email / call about this. It may not make a difference, but still bring it to their attention.

Yup, opened a support ticket with them to let them know. Hopefully they'll be able to change this behavior.

Pupik, on 24 April 2011 - 14:03, said:

Man, that's some short password you got there.

It's actually larger than that, I just botched up while doing the redaction. (Note the white space to the right of "You")

[Anaron]

It's odd that they'd send you your actual password like that. I wouldn't be too worried though. A lot of services send you a randomly generated password after requesting a new password. I don't think it's any different in terms of security.

[Samn9]

Anaron, on 24 April 2011 - 22:27, said:

It's odd that they'd send you your actual password like that. I wouldn't be too worried though. A lot of services send you a randomly generated password after requesting a new password. I don't think it's any different in terms of security.

They generate the random password, send it to you in an email, then hash it before it is put in the database. It's not retrievable in plain text after this point.

[Chosen One]

I Think that is suppose to be a temp password, it auto created an account for you so u can login. Whom ever sent you a gift, sent it to a email address that did not have an account.

[TGT]

Chosen One, on 25 April 2011 - 15:36, said:

I Think that is suppose to be a temp password, it auto created an account for you so u can login. Whom ever sent you a gift, sent it to a email address that did not have an account.

Sadly, this isn't the case - it was actually my password that I had personally set for that account.