Getting Started

Passwords have received increasing attention as a source of vulnerability in individual machines and entire networks. Security experts from industry, government, and academia agree that weak passwords represent one of the ten most critical internet security threats.* LC4 offers an easy-to-use and adaptable way to identify and assess password vulnerability.

LC4 uses a variety of sources and methods to retrieve passwords from the operating system. It provides feedback about the strength of passwords based on the types of audit required to recover the password and the length of time required to do so. The end result is a state of the art tool for password auditing and recovery that serves to guide organizational policies and procedures.

There are many uses for auditing user passwords. First and foremost is for a system administrator to audit the strength of the passwords their users are using. Weak passwords represent vulnerability points for any organization, and uncovering these vulnerabilities is the first step toward reducing them. Administrators can use corporate password policies, and for some environments, filtered password generators to improve the quality of passwords used in their organizations. But without testing the passwords chosen by users or generated against a real world password auditor, the administrator is taking a chance at the amount of time required for an external attacker or malicious insider to uncover the passwords.

In other cases LC4 can be used to streamline the migration or upgrading of users from one authentication system to another. Lastly, LC4 can serve to recover a lost or forgotten password to permit re-entry to a system from which an administrator is locked out.

Installing and Uninstalling LC4

• Install
  LC4 is distributed in a self-installing executable distribution file which may be downloaded for free from www.atstake.com/lc. Launching the installation file, starts a standard installation process. By default, the installation process creates a directory named \Program Files\@stake\LC4, in which LC4 is installed. Start LC4 by clicking the shortcut in the LC4 program group which is added to the Start .. Programs menu.

• Uninstall
  To uninstall LC4, go to the Windows Control Panel, and open Add/Remove Programs. Select LC4 from the list of programs installed on your system, and click on Remove. LC4 will be uninstalled from your system.

Registering LC4

We offer online, telephone and fax registration options. Please click here for phone/fax numbers and the online registration form.

LC4 is licensed on a per machine basis, and each machine generates a unique LC4 Serial Number. When you register, you'll be asked to provide your name, address, credit card info, email address and the LC4 Serial Number. Note this means you must download and install LC4 and obtain the Serial Number from your installation before you can register it.

To obtain your installation's Serial Number, launch LC4, and click 'Register' from the LC4 splash screen. This opens a Registration dialog that provides your Serial Number. When you register, you receive a unique Unlock Code for your installation. Enter this code in the LC4 Registration dialog to unlock the product.

Reinstalling LC4

*The SANS Institute. Ten Most Critical Internet Security Threats - The Experts' Consensus. January, 2001.