The digital world brings numerous advantages but also challenges for online security. One prevalent threat is user enumeration vulnerability, posing a risk to user privacy. In this article, we’ll demystify this vulnerability and explore the strategies we put in place to reduce its impact on projects developed by digit.
Understanding User Enumeration Vulnerability
User enumeration vulnerability enables attackers to check if a specific username or email is registered on a digital service. It particularly affects services like “Login,” “Forgot Password,” and “Registration”.
Risks and Issues
Inefficiently designed digital products may inadvertently expose registered usernames or emails, often through overly explicit error messages, jeopardizing users’ sensitive information. Furthermore, potential attackers, upon confirming a user’s registration, may attempt password breaches using methods like brute force or compromised password sets acquired illicitly.
Digit’s Best Practices for Mitigating User Enumeration
Login Screen
No: System Indicates an Incorrect Password
Yes (Digit’s Approach): The system displays a generic message like “Incorrect credentials,” avoiding specifying whether the error is due to an incorrect password or username. This consistent error message approach mitigates user enumeration risk, even for unregistered usernames.
Forgot Password Screen
No: System States, “Email not registered on the service.”
Yes (Digit’s Approach): The system consistently communicates, “A password recovery email has been sent to the provided email if registered in the system.” This prevents attackers from determining an email address’s registration status, safeguarding user privacy.
Conclusions
Ensuring digital service security has always been a priority in our projects, starting from the application design phase. Over the years, digit has developed a set of best practices to guarantee a high level of service security.
Online security is a collective responsibility, and adopting these practices contributes to establishing a more secure and dependable digital environment for all.
