3D Secure is the payment industries Internet authentication standard. The Visa implementation is known as Verified by VISA and MasterCard is known as MasterCard SecureCode. When a cardholder enrolls for 3D Secure they get a password associated with their card. From this point on, when they visit a site that supports 3D Secure they will be prompted to enter the password to verify their identity. 3D Secure shifts the liability for fraudulent transactions from the Merchant to the cardholders issuing bank so this is a strong incentive for Merchants to adopt the standard.

3D Secure allows the cardholder to create a new password if they forget their current password. The manner in which this forgot password functionality is implemented seriously undermines 3D Secure and its use as an Internet authentication standard.

I am a frequent online shopper but I rarely come across sites that support 3D Secure. Recently I was purchasing some Skype credit and after entering my card details I was presented with a screen indicating that I had to verify my payment before I could proceed. 

After clicking on the 'Verify payment' button I was prompted to enter my 3D secure password. 

Rather than enter my password I clicked on the 'Forgot your password?' link. I have blocked out my login name in the above screen-shot but it was displayed as static text.  After clicking the 'Forgot your password?' link I was presented with the Verified by Visa 'Forgot Your Password - Identification' form.

Here I was prompted to enter the following information:

• The 3 digit security code on the back of my card, known as the Card Verification Code (CVC).
• The credit card expiry date.
• Cardholder Name as it appears on the card.
• Cardholder date of birth.

To my surprise after successfully entering all of this information a 'Create Password' form was displayed.

Here I am able to create a new password to be associated with my credit card for 3D secure transactions. It is worth noting that the password complexity rules enforced for the 3D secure password would not necessarily produce a password that one would regard as complex. The password must contain between 8 and 32 characters, contain at least one number and one letter. Once I created a new password I was then proceed to complete my purchase. Later I received an email from MBNA confirming that I had updated my 3D Secure account profile.

So what is the problem?

There are two fundamental flaws with the 3D Secure 'Forgot Password' process.

1. The information required to change the password.
2. The method by which the cardholder is notified of the password change.

1. The information required to change the password

Three out of the four pieces of information required to change the 3D secure password are available on the Visa card.

• The 3 digit security code on the back of my card, known as the Card Verification Code (CVC).
• The credit card expiry date.
• Cardholder Name as it appears on the card.

If someone is attempting a fraudulent transaction they will have already provided the CVC and the expiry date earlier in the transaction. There is a good chance they also have the cardholder name but if not they can easily determine it from the 'Login Name' displayed on the initial 'Verify Payment' view. The final piece of information required is the cardholders date of birth and if the cardholder has an online presence (e.g. Facebook, Bebo, LinkedIn etc.) then this is not exactly difficult to determine.

2. The method by which the cardholder is notified of the password change

The email to notify me that my password had changed came from mbna@securesuite.co.uk. The email contains links to a different domain www.mbna.3dsecurecard.ie/visa than that of the email. The combination of these two points make the email look like a phishing email. This is exactly the sort of email that we as security professionals educate people to ignore. Changing your 3D secure password is a pretty big deal yet the email does not mention that the password has been changed only that the 3D secure account profile has been updated.

3D Secure is often viewed as the online version of Chip and PIN. Imagine if this 'Forgot password' process was applied to Chip and PIN in the offline world. When paying for a purchase at a POS device you would have the option 'Forgot PIN'. Selecting this would allow you to reset your PIN by entering the CVC, expiry date, cardholder name and cardholder date of birth. This scenario sounds ridiculous because it is. This would never happen offline so why implement such a process online where there is even greater potential and risk of fraud?

Dave

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Earlier today Neowin.net reported that the passwords for over 10,000 Hotmail accounts have been posted online. According to their source a list detailing over 10,000 accounts was posted on pastebin.com. Pastebin.com is a site that developers use to share snippets of code. The has since been removed but it provided details of over 10,000 accounts started from A through to B. The fact that it ends at B suggests that this may not be the complete list. The list appeared to only contain accounts that can be used to access Microsofts Windows Live Hotmail service.

The story has since been picked up by main stream media. According to the BBC report Microsoft has said that they have "been made aware of the claims that Windows Live IDs and passwords have been made available on the web". There are no details as to where this list has originated from as it were posted anonymously on pastebin.com. Microsoft is currently investigating the situation. We will be watching to see how this story progresses and will update as more details emerge.

This is not the first time that email account details and passwords have been posted online. In May we posted about how approximately 2,100 Irish email account details had been published online. Back then we gave 4 pieces of advice which are relevant here:

• Do not use the same password for multiple sites. I know I use 'levels' of passwords, when I sign up for something trivial but it requires an account I use one particular password which I do reuse, however any sites that hold credit card data or my email accounts all use different strong passwords.
• Only use your work email address for work related sites.
• No matter how much emphasis you place on your personal online security you and your online reputation are still at risk when your details are trusted to others.

The most important piece of advice for users of Hotmail is to CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD.

UPDATE:

06/10/09

BBC News published an article this morning indicating that the scale of this attack maybe larger then previously thought. BBC News have seen a list of more than 20,000 names and passwords that were posted online. The list does not only contain Hotmail credentials but also includes Yahoo, AOL, Gmail and other service providers. This list was also posted on pastebin.com but has since been removed.

Dave

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If you liked this article then you can:

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Related Blog Posts:

• List of Irish email addresses made public.
• Details of the Twitter attack revealed.