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Why Cleartext is Insecure

  • Introduction

Anytime information is being passed on the internet, it has to be in a format that will be simple to transport using the available set of protocols and also ready to secure. Insecure means of passing information are the ones that do not encrypt or obfuscate the information in any manner or form. For instance, a password passed in cleartext to a validation server will not be safe, and hackers will quickly make sense of the messages being passed between a mobile app and a cloud server. The power of encryption, when ignored, can hugely impact the security of your information and other digital assets. However, it can also improve your online safety and that of your information quite effectively when you have all the encryption measures and systems in place to ensure that everything in your digital universe is encrypted and thus safe. Whenever you have your information encrypted, you will more efficiently use it without fear that hackers also have access to the same information as you do. Additionally, encryption means that passing tokens to verification servers in the cloud, for instance, will be safe and secure for all parties involved in verification and user validation.

Tokens that are salted and properly encrypted are helpful for everyday interactions and usages of data. With the encryption of these tokens, the verification process for your applications, games, web applications, and cloud information systems will be much easier, more convenient, and effortless. It will also be easier to keep legitimate users only on your platforms when you are more in charge of the validation and can easily encrypt all the aspects of the cloud information system you are working with. The power of encryption beats plaintext by many factors. It is prudent to emphasize the importance and usefulness of encryption in keeping information and other digital assets safe and secure. Much information is revealed in the address bar whenever your system has been set up to use plaintext.

When it has been incorrectly included in the URL, even hackers on your network can obtain your private information, such as authentication details that you use on web applications, websites, and mobile applications while on public WiFi networks, for instance. Enterprise applications that have been improperly set up in such a manner are a shame to the companies that still use them and a safety risk to the information and privacy of the millions of customers and clients globally that use these applications. An incorrect security setup, such as a leaky authentication mechanism on your web and enterprise apps, is a safety threat to information and should be sealed or patched off as quickly as possible. Whenever you intend to set up authentication in your applications, it is better to work with encrypted methods instead of methods that need to consider that encryption will safeguard your information and keep it safe from all kinds of enemies in all formats and manners.

  • Cleartext

Cleartext is plain text that has not been modified in any manner or form. It is the text you can open on a simple notepad application and start editing immediately. This text is also easy to read, and you will not have to take the content through complicated decryption processes to determine the information’s true nature or origin. With cleartext, it is easy to make out what a message entails and when used in public domains, it presents a security threat to the information being passed over the network. Encryption is the only sure means to keep your information safe online, and early encryption makes your networks safer and more effective.

The use of cleartext is not recommended for passing information such as credentials used in verifying and authenticating users on various mobile and web apps. With encryption, you can quickly turn the cleartext into something more powerful and so hard that it will take years for hackers to make sense of a single character in the message. The ability to encrypt plaintext means that authentication can still be made securely and reliably. With the simple implementation and reliable performance, it can be integrated into as many aspects of your company as possible. You will also find it to improve the speed at which information passes through your network, and whenever you need to move a lot of information at a go, encrypting it first is often the most advisable way to go about it.

With the information encrypted, it will then pass through networks and other aspects of modern information systems, enabling you to use this digital asset in more intuitive and customized ways. You will also be more private online when your authentication is being done in an encrypted manner as opposed to cleartext which is highly unreliable and always tends to pose security vulnerabilities and weaknesses for many information systems. Moving away from cleartext when passing validation information and other authentication details between web clients and servers is also essential for modern developers who value the quality of the code they write and the algorithms they design daily.

  • Security

Cleartext has security weaknesses, so avoiding this method of passing information between applications is recommended. Whether you are performing authentication on a web application, mobile application, cloud application, or enterprise application at the workplace, encryption plays an essential role in preserving the nature and privacy of the users involved in dealing with and handling the data. When building web and mobile applications for your business or organization, ensure encryption in the verification process, as this will significantly simplify security for all parties involved in the application. Ask the developers to design a safe information processing approach whenever you are in a meeting with them. They will turn your needs into software features you can use, experience, and interact with.

  • Conclusion

Cleartext has often been regarded as an unsafe means of passing verification and validation information on the internet. Whenever you need to pass validation information to a web server or cloud authentication provider, encryption will be helpful, giving your information the privacy-preserving features it needs to pass safely over networks and the internet.