The problem with RADIUS in the cloud The promise of cloud-hosted infrastructure sounds tempting. Someone else manages yourdatabase, you pay only for what you need, you may have better data security, and the database can scale up with you... Network Security Best Practices
Database design principles for RADIUS systems Database design is often overlooked as a critical element of a RADIUS ecosystem. In practice, when we work with our clients, we usually spend the bulk of our time optimizing the database architecture.... Network Security Best Practices
Introducing RADIUS 1.1 RADIUS has a problem. The name of the problem is MD5. The MD5 hash algorithm was defined in 1991, and was used in RADIUS in 1993. However, MD5 is no longer secure. It is a bit of a miracle that RADIUS... Network Security Best Practices Network Security Protocols
Authorized users only: Why use RADIUS and 802.1x to control network access? RADIUS can be an alternative to implementing 802.1x for network access control in complex enterprise environments. Controlling which users and what devices are on your network has become significantly... Network Security Best Practices
Client Case Study: RADIUS AAA Policies One of our clients with a support contract had performance issues. We tracked this down to inefficient usage of AAA policies. Having tuned the policies the load on our client’s database dropped by a f... Network Security Best Practices
Expert Advice Beats Internet Wisdom: What Not To Do About BlastRADIUS There’s a lot of misinformation circulating about the BlastRADIUS vulnerability. For us, as RADIUS experts, it’s a depressing reminder of how little people understand about this foundational protocol ... Network Security Best Practices Network Security Protocols Security Threats and Vulnerabilities
RADIUS protocol and password compatibility In order for RADIUS authentication to work, user passwords need to be stored in a format that is understood by the authentication protocol used by the client. Unfortunately, not all protocols work wit... Network Security Best Practices Network Security Protocols
PAP vs CHAP. Is PAP less secure? One of the most common questions about RADIUS security asks “Is PAP secure?” The usual answer is “no”, which is (in our opinion) seriously misleading. A better answer is “Here’s a comparison of PAP an... Network Security Best Practices Network Security Protocols
Is PAP secure? A common misconception is that PAP is less secure than other authentication protocols such as CHAP, MS-CHAP, or EAP-MSCHAP(v2). This perception arises because of a misunderstanding of how PAP is actua... Network Security Best Practices Network Security Protocols
MS-CHAP is dead While MS-CHAP has been used since 1998, it uses DES encryption which was deprecated in 2002. Attacks on MS-CHAP itself have been known since 2006, and those attacks have only gotten better over time. ... Network Security Best Practices Network Security Protocols
Client Case Study: Slow network performance When the pandemic hit, thousands of employees suddenly needed remote access overnight. This aerospace company's "simple" Python-based authentication system became their biggest business threat—until o... Network Security Best Practices
802.1X FreeRADIUS setup Undertaking 802.1X setup is a daunting experience for many organizations. There are detailed requirements on end-user PCs, switches, servers, certificates, and more. If any of these requirements are n... Network Security Best Practices