How to Configuring Password Encryption

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As my previous post about How to Configure Privilege Levels for Users on Cisco Router.
Today this post I'd like to show you how to configure Password Encryption on Cisco Router.

Well, It's relatively simple to configure password encryption on Cisco routers. When password encryption is configured, all passwords that are configured on the router are converted to an unsophisticated reversible cipher. Although the algorithm that is used to convert the passwords is somewhat unsophisticated, it still serves a very good purpose. Intruders cannot simply view the password in plain text and know what the password is. To enable the use of password encryption, use the command service password−encryption.

The following example shows a router configuration prior to enabling password encryption. An enable password, a console password, and a Telnet password is configured:

CiscoRouter#show running−config
!
enable password Cisco
!
line con 0
password NetVisa
!
line vty 0 4
password Security
!

The following example shows the command you would use to enable password encryption on the router:

CiscoRouter#config t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
CiscoRouter(config)#service password−encryption
CiscoRouter(config)#end
CiscoRouter#

The results of enabling password encryption can be seen in the following example. Notice that each
password is now represented by a string of letters and numbers, which represents the encrypted format of the password:

CiscoRouter#show running−config
!
enable password 7 05280F1C2243
!
line con 0
password 7 04750E12182E5E45001702
!
line vty 0 4
password 7 122A00140719051033
!

Note: Password encryption does not provide a very high level of security. There are widely available passwords crackers that can reverse the encryption. I do, however, recommend using the password encryption command on all routers. I also recommend that you take additional security measures to protect your passwords.

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How to Disabling Password Recovery

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Why you need to set passwords on routers?

--> To defense against intruders

Why the passwords must be recovered?

>>> Sometimes passwords are forgotten. There are, however, some instances in which the widely known password recovery procedures should be disabled. When physical security is not possible or in a network emergency, password recovery can be disabled.

What is the key to recovering a password on a Cisco router?

>>> The key to recovering a password on a Cisco router is through manipulation of the configuration registers of the router. All router passwords are stored in the startup configuration, so if the configuration registers are changed properly, the startup configuration with the passwords stored within them can be bypassed.

What happens if you disable the password recovery?

>>> If you have disabled the password recovery mechanisms, you will not
be able to perform password recovery on the router. Disabling the password recovery procedure of a Cisco router is a decision that must be thought out ahead of time because the command used to disable password recovery also disables ROMMON.


How you can disable the password recovery?

>>> You can disable the Cisco password recovery procedure by issuing the no service
password−recovery command in global configuration mode:

CiscoRouter#config t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTR/Z.
SecureRouter(config)#no service password−recovery
WARNING:
Executing this command will disable password recovery mechanism.
Do not execute this command without another plan for
password recovery.
Are you sure you want to continue? [yes/no]: yes

As you can see, the IOS reminds you of how serious disabling the password recovery procedures are with a warning message and a prompt allowing you to change your mind. To see the results of changing the password recovery feature, issue the show running−config command. The effects of issuing the command can be seen in the following configuration:

CiscoRouter#show run
Building configuration...
Current configuration:
!
version 12.0
service password−encryption
no service password−recovery
!
hostname CiscoRouter

After password recovery has been disabled and the configuration has been saved, the widely available password recovery procedure will not be available on the router. The following output verifies that password recovery is indeed disabled:

CiscoRouter#reload
Proceed with reload? [confirm]
00:14:34: %SYS−5−RELOAD: Reload requested
System Bootstrap, Version 11.3(2)XA4, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
Copyright (c) 1999 by cisco Systems, Inc.
TAC:Home:SW:IOS:Specials for info
PC = 0xfff14ee8, Vector = 0x500, SP = 0x680127b0
C2600 platform with 49152 Kbytes of main memory
PASSWORD RECOVERY FUNCTIONALITY IS DISABLED
program load complete, entry point: 0x80008000, size: 0x928024
Self decompressing the image : #######################....

If the no service password−recovery command has been issued on a Cisco router and the
passwords have been forgotten, you must contact your Cisco Technical Support Engineer to obtain help in gaining access into the router and enabling the password recovery process again.

http://networksecuritynotes.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-disabling-password-recovery.html

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Learn to Configure Enable Mode Security on Cisco Router

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To configure enable mode access, you can use one of two commands: enable password or enable secret. Both commands accomplish the same thing, allowing access to enable mode. However, the enable secret command is considered to be more secure because it uses a one−way encryption scheme based on the MD5 hashing function. Only use the enable password command with older IOS images and/or boot ROMs that have no knowledge of the newer enable secret command.




You configure an enable password by entering the enable password command in global configuration mode:

CiscoRouter#config t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
CiscoRouter(config)#enable password VisaGoogla
CiscoRouter(config)#end
CiscoRouter#

The preceding configuration sets the enable password to VisaGoogla. The result of setting the enable password can be seen in the following output. From the user mode prompt, you must enter the enable command to gain access into privileged mode:

CiscoRouter>enable
Password: VisaGoogla
CiscoRouter#

Note: After you enter the enable command, the password you type at the password prompt will not be displayed. Be sure to type the password exactly as it is configured in the enable password command.

You configure an enable secret password by entering the following command in global configuration mode:

CiscoRouter#config t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
CiscoRouter(config)#enable secret VisaGooglaSec
CiscoRouter(config)#end
CiscoRouter#

The preceding configuration sets the enable secret password to VisaGooglaSec. The result of setting the enable secret password can be seen in the following output. From the user mode prompt, you must enter the enable command to gain access into privileged mode, as follows:

CiscoRouter>enable
Password: VisaGooglaSec
CiscoRouter#

Note: After you enter the enable command, the password you type at the password prompt will not be displayed. Be sure to type the password exactly as it is configured in the enable password command.

Note: For security reason, we recommend you to use "enable secret password", because the secret password uses MD5 hashing function to encrypt your password, so it is more secure than "enable password"!!!

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Learn to configure Console Security on Cisco Router

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The console port is used to attach a terminal directly into the router. By default, no security is applied to the console port and the setup utility does not prompt you to configure security for console access. Cisco routers have many different modes of operation, one of which is user mode. When you first access the router via the console port, the router will prompt you for a password, if one has been configured. After successfully supplying the password, you are logged into user mode on the router. When a Cisco router is in user mode, the router will display its hostname followed by the greater than symbol. Here is an example of user mode access:

CiscoRouter>

User mode has limited functionality. Enable mode, also called privileged mode, can be accessed by typing the enable command. If passwords have been configured to access this level of the IOS, the router prompts you for the correct password. When a Cisco router is in enable mode, the router will display its hostname followed by the pound sign. Here is an example of enable mode access:

CiscoRouter#

Cisco passwords are case sensitive. The simplest and most direct way to connect to the network device is to use a direct connection to the console port of a router or switch. You can configure a console password to authenticate users for user mode access by entering the following commands:

CiscoRouter#config t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
CiscoRouter(config)#line con 0
CiscoRouter(config−line)#password CisRoutPsw
CiscoRouter(config−line)#login
CiscoRouter(config−line)#end

The preceding configuration sets the user mode password to CisRoutPsw. Cisco routers also maintain a local user authentication database, which can be used to authenticate users who connect directly to the console port of a router. Here's an example of configuring the router to use the local user database for authentication of users who attempt to access the router via the console:

!
username Visa privilege 15 password 0 Vipsw
username Googla privilege 12 password 0 Goopsw
username Yaha privilege 8 password 0 Yapsw
!
line con 0
login local
transport input none
!

The preceding configuration defines three users: Visa, Googla, and Yaha. Each user has an associated privilege level defined for their respective login credentials and has a password that is associated with their username. This allows Visa to log into the router with a username of Visa and a password of Vipsw. Because Visa's privilege level defines the maximum privilege level that can be configured on the router, Visa is considered to be the super−user. Googla has a privilege
level of 12 and the password Goopsw.

Assignment of privilege levels is discussed in detail later in next post!

By assigning Googla a privilege of 12, the administrator can limit the functionality that Googla may have on the router. That's also the case for Yaha. When a user plugs into the console port of a router configured with local authentication, they are first prompted for their username; after successfully passing the correct username to the router, they are then prompted for the password that is associated with that username. The following example details these steps:

User Access Verification
Username: Visa
Password: Vipsw
CiscoRouter#

Now, what do you think would happen if you were to attempt to log in with the username of Visa and the password that is associated with Googla? You would suspect that the router would deny you access. This example details this attempt:

User Access Verification
Username: Visa
Password: Goopsw
% Login invalid
Username:

From this, you can see that you must supply the password that is associated with the username with which you are attempting to gain access.

Warning: When using local authentication and assigning privilege levels, you must be careful to associate the correct username with the correct privilege level.
Anyone who logs in with a privilege level that is equal to 2 or above is logged directly into privileged mode.

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Configuring Password Encryption

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All Cisco console and Telnet passwords configured on the router are stored in plain text within the configuration of the router by default, thus making them easily readable. If someone issues the show running−config privileged mode command, the password is displayed. Another instance when the password can easily be read is if you store your configurations on a TFTP server, the intruder only needs to gain access into the TFTP machine, after which the intruder can read the
configuration with a simple text editor. Password encryption stores passwords in an encrypted manner on the router. The encryption is applied to all configured passwords on the router.

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Disabling Password Recovery

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Setting passwords is the first line of defense against intruders. Sometimes passwords are forgotten and must be recovered. All Cisco password recovery procedures dictate that the user performs the password recovery process from the console port of the router or switch. There are, however, certain circumstances in which the widely available password recovery procedure should be disabled. One such circumstance is an emergency Add, Move, or Change (AMC), whereby a
networking device needs to be in a location that does not have the proper mechanisms in place for physical security, thus allowing an intruder a greater chance of circumventing traditional security measures.

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Setting Privilege Levels

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Privilege levels associate router commands with each security level configured on the router. This allows for a finer granularity of control when restricting user access. There are 16 privilege levels contained within the router operating system. Level 2 to level 14 are customizable and allow you to configure multiple privilege levels and multiple passwords to enable certain users to have access to specific commands.

But most users of Cisco routers are familiar with only two privilege levels:

• User EXEC mode — privilege level 1


• Privileged EXEC mode — privilege level 15

When you log in to a Cisco router under the default configuration, you’re in user EXEC mode (level 1). From this mode, you have access to some information about the router, such as the status of interfaces, and you can view routes in the routing table. However, you can’t make any changes or view the running configuration file.

Because of these limitations, most Cisco router users immediately type enable to get out of user EXEC mode. By default, typing enable takes you to level 15, privileged EXEC mode. In the Cisco IOS, this level is equivalent to having root privileges in UNIX or administrator privileges in Windows. In other words, you have full access to the router.

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Securing Console Access

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It's important to put the proper physical security mechanisms into place. If the proper physical

security mechanisms are not in place, an intruder could potentially bypass all other logical security mechanisms and gain access to the device. If an intruder can gain access to the administrative interface of the router, he could view and change the device's configuration and gain access to other networking equipment. The first thing you should do to prevent intruders from accomplishing is to set a console password. If the intruder has already gained physical access to the device, he'll attempt to gain network access through the console port first. The console port supports many different methods for authenticating a user and allowing access, some of which are listed here:
· Console password
· Local user database
· TACACS+ (Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System Plus) : is a protocol which provides access control for routers, network access servers and other networked computing devices via one or more centralized servers. TACACS+ provides separate authentication, authorization and accounting services.
· RADIUS(Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) : is a networking protocol that provides centralized access, authorization and accounting management for people or computers to connect and use a network service. When a person or device connects to a network often "Authentication" is required. Networks or services not requiring authentication are said to be anonymous or open.

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