The system or application login procedure should be designed to minimize the potential for unauthorized access.
The login process should therefore disclose as little information about the system or application as possible so as not to unnecessarily assist an unauthorized user. Criteria for a good login procedure include e.g.:
- logging in does not reveal the associated application until the connection is established
- the login does not display help or error messages that would assist an unauthorized user
- logging in will only validate the data once all the data has been entered
- login is prevented from using fatigue attacks
- login logs failed and successful login attempts
- suspicious login attempts are reported to the user
- passwords are not sent as plain text online
- the session does not continue forever after logging in
