Patent ID: 9563768
Date: 2017-02-07
CPC Classifications: G06F,H04L

Claim:
1. An apparatus to manage password security, comprising: a hardware processor to implement: an alarm action engine to invoke a provisional transmission block of a candidate password associated with a user in response to detecting entry of the candidate password; a transmission delay manager to maintain the provisional transmission block until a blocking release authorization code is received; and a password linkage monitor to retrieve a list of password hash values, stored in a memory, the password hash values associated with previously used passwords associated with the user, the password linkage monitor to compare the list of password hash values to a hash value of the candidate password, the password linkage monitor to determine a count of the number of times the hash value of the candidate password matches a password hash value in the list, wherein the count represents a number of different online service sites where the candidate password has been used; the alarm action engine to identify a service category type associated with the candidate password, the alarm action engine to identify a threshold based on the service category type, where the threshold for the service category type is dependent on a security risk for the service category type, the alarm action engine to compare the count with the threshold; the alarm action engine to invoke a permanent block of the candidate password when the count meets or exceeds the threshold; the alarm action engine to allow use of the candidate password when the count does not meet or exceed the threshold.