IT Baseline Protection Manual - The Information Warfare Site

Threats Catalogue Deliberate Acts Remarks
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T 3.19 Storing of passwords for WfW and Windows
95
For Windows 95 and WfW, access to directories, printers or pages of the
clipboard which were shared by another party is facilitated by keeping the
necessary passwords inside the file [account name].pwl. To do this, the option
"Save password in the password list" can be selected. If this option is
activated, the result may be that passwords are stored unintentionally. If
Windows 95 is used within a NetWare network environment, the passwords
will be automatically stored in the [ account name].pwl. file. Access rights
however, are only granted at the user level.
Should a third party get access to the WfW or Windows 95 computer he/she
would have direct access to the password list ([ account name].pwl). The
passwords kept for access to resources of other parties are protected by the
WfW or Windows 95 password. If this is deactivated or widely known or if
WfW or Windows 95 is already active without a screen lock, unauthorised
persons can establish connections to other computers.
Note:
Programs are now offered through the Internet which allow decoding of PWL
files for WfW without knowledge of the password. The passwords stored in
these files can often be discovered as plain text inside of the windows-specific
temporary swap file 386spart.par. For this reason, an appropriate site access
protection or data access protection at file level has to be installed.
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IT-Baseline Protection Manual: Oktober 2000