NEW: Microsoft Vulnerabilities Report 2022 - Read the Findings of Our Annual Report Read Now

  • Partners
  • Support
  • Careers
  • English
    • Deutsch
    • français
    • español
    • 한국어
    • português
BeyondTrust
  • Products

    Privileged Password Management

    Discover, manage, audit, and monitor privileged accounts and credentials.

    • Password Safe
    • DevOps Secrets Safe
    • Privileged Access Discovery Application

    Endpoint Privilege Management

    Enforce least privilege across Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix endpoints.

    • Windows and Mac
    • Unix and Linux
    • Active Directory Bridge

    Secure Remote Access

    Centrally manage remote access for service desks, vendors, and operators.

    • Remote Support
    • Privileged Remote Access
    • Privileged Access Discovery Application

    Cloud Security Management

    Automate the management of identities and assets across your multicloud footprint.

    • Cloud Privilege Broker

    BeyondInsight

    Experience the industry’s most innovative, comprehensive platform for privileged access management.

  • Solutions

    Use Cases

    • Cloud Security
    • Compliance
    • Cyber Insurance
    • Digital Transformation
    • Endpoint Security
    • Operational Technology
    • Ransomware
    • Service Desk Efficiency
    • Zero Trust

    Industry Applications

    • Financial Services
    • Government Agencies
    • Healthcare
    • Law Enforcement
    • Manufacturing
    • Schools & Universities

    Solutions

    The BeyondTrust Privileged Access Management portfolio is an integrated solution that provides visibility and control over all privileged accounts and users.

  • Resources

    Learn

    • Blog
    • Customer Stories
    • Competitor Comparisons
    • Datasheets
    • Videos
    • Glossary
    • Infographics
    • Podcast
    • Whitepapers

    Attend

    • Events
    • Go Beyond
    • Training
    • Webinars

    Support

    • Changelog
    • Professional Services
    • Technical Documentation

    Universal Privilege Management

    Our innovative Universal Privilege Management approach secures every user, asset, and session across your entire enterprise.

  • Company
    • About
    • Leadership
    • Core Values
    • Partners
    • Careers
  • Watch Demo
  • Contact Sales

Tell Me a Secret: The Technology Behind Securely Sharing Passwords

March 26, 2018

  • Blog
  • Archive
  1. Home
  2. Blog
  3. Tell Me a Secret: The Technology Behind Securely Sharing Passwords

blog-tell-me-a-secret.jpg

Have you ever whispered in your friend’s ear and told them a secret? You probably have. You lean in, say it quietly so no one else can hear, and pose your question. If your friend is just as concerned with security, they will turn their head and whisper back into your ear with a response. In a nutshell, you just had a secure communication, exchanged data, and performed a challenge and response limited to two people. You exchanged a secret relatively securely.

So how do two computer programs handle security? Outside of a detailed discussion on encryption, access control lists, and authentication techniques the process is at a high level very similar. Two programs build a trusted connection (like friends) and exchange data (encrypted) directly to each other (whispering) so no one else can hear. When two programs need to build that initial trust this is typically performed with certificates to prove the source is a trusted friend to ask the question. When the question itself is very sensitive, like asking for a password, then just trusting your friend alone is not enough. You want to make sure the source of the friendly request is in a trusted location (like not being in a crowded room). This is typically translated into the computing world as access control lists.

When two computer applications are communicating sensitive information like a stored password, businesses typically rely on a password safe to store the information. If you consider the amount of sensitive data stored in the safe, ensuring the request is truly from a friend is absolutely required.

So, what does this typically look like in the real world? For a solution like BeyondTrust’s PowerBroker Password Safe, making sure the request from a friend is an exercise in trusted technology communications. Below is an illustration for this trust using a key and trusted IP sources.

blog-tell-me-a-secret-example.jpg

If the initiating connection can provide the proper key, certificate, and comes from a trusted source (in this example), using a REST API, then it can ask for the appropriate secret (password) as long as the requesting application has the proper entitlements in the safe. That is an additional permissions layer to ensure that the possible requests are scoped to only ones they are allowed to ask and ultimately get an answer for. For the sake of our analogy, this is like stating only certain friends can ask specification questions and get a valid response. They are entitled to get a valid response.

When programs need to tell a secret with each other, like requesting a password, the connection needs to be secure and the communications trusted; just like telling a secret with a friend. While this may sound like common sense to many of our technical readers, the analogy helps other team members understand what is involved programmatically in sharing a password and the technology in place to ensure the communications is secure.

If you would like to learn more about PowerBroker Password Safe’s API technology for sharing secrets programmatically, please check out this data sheet. BeyondTrust can help make sure your development and DevOps procedures and scripts are secure, and having a solution that does it natively helps provide a layer of security every organization needs.

Photograph of Morey J. Haber

Morey J. Haber, Chief Security Officer, BeyondTrust

Morey J. Haber is the Chief Security Officer at BeyondTrust. He has more than 25 years of IT industry experience and has authored three books: Privileged Attack Vectors, Asset Attack Vectors, and Identity Attack Vectors. He is a founding member of the industry group Transparency in Cyber, and in 2020 was elected to the Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA) Executive Advisory Board. Morey currently oversees BeyondTrust security and governance for corporate and cloud based solutions and regularly consults for global periodicals and media. He originally joined BeyondTrust in 2012 as a part of the eEye Digital Security acquisition where he served as a Product Owner and Solutions Engineer since 2004. Prior to eEye, he was Beta Development Manager for Computer Associates, Inc. He began his career as Reliability and Maintainability Engineer for a government contractor building flight and training simulators. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Stay Up To Date

Get the latest news, ideas, and tactics from BeyondTrust. You may unsubscribe at any time.

I agree to receive product related communications from BeyondTrust as detailed in the Privacy Policy, and I may manage my preferences or withdraw my consent at any time.

You May Also Be Interested In:

Whitepapers

IDSA Report: 2022 Trends in Securing Digital Identities

Whitepapers

Microsoft Vulnerabilities Report 2022

Whitepapers

Cybersecurity Insurance Checklist

Keep up with BeyondTrust

I agree to receive product related communications from BeyondTrust as detailed in the Privacy Policy, and I may manage my preferences or withdraw my consent at any time.

Customer Support
Contact Sales

Products

  • Endpoint Privilege Management
  • Password Management
  • Privileged Remote Access
  • DevOps Secrets Safe
  • Remote Support
  • Cloud Privilege Broker

Resources

  • Blog
  • Case Studies
  • Competitor Comparisons
  • Datasheets
  • Glossary
  • Infographics
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Whitepapers

About

  • Company
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Leadership Team
  • Partner Program
  • Press
BeyondTrust Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Privacy
  • Security
  • Manage Cookies
  • WEEE Compliance

Copyright © 1999 — 2022 BeyondTrust Corporation. All rights reserved. Other trademarks identified on this page are owned by their respective owners. BeyondTrust Corporation is not a chartered bank or trust company, or depository institution. It is not authorized to accept deposits or trust accounts and is not licensed or regulated by any state or federal banking authority.