sending username and password through email after user registration in web application

Question

What is your opinion on sending the username and password to their email address when they register on our website..this way if they forget the password in the future, they

Answer 1

I have three rules concerning passwords:

• Don’t store passwords in plain text in the database
  • Why should people trust you with that kind of information? You may only have good intentions, but big companies have failed before, so you're at risk too.
• Don’t use password reminders
  • Password reminders are not worth it. They are easy to guess from people in your entourage and you often forget them. There are better ways to reset a password.
• Always offer to send a new password by email
  • This is the most secure way of retrieving passwords. You should force the user to change the password once logged in with the new password.

Answer 2

I tell people to think of email like a postcard -- an employee of any company that handles it between the sender and the recipient can read it.

Answer 3

I'd say providing a forgotten password function will still be vital as not everybody will be guaranteed to keep all there emails (or even be able find them later on)...

Answer 4

People often share passwords across sites. So you should assume the same password works for the customer's online banking, and you should never send it by e-mail or provide a way for (someone pretending to be) the customer to retrieve it.

It's fine to send them a confirmation e-mail with their username - this is useful.

Remember, if you e-mail them their password they're likely to forget about that e-mail, or just delete it. So you need another password reset mechanism anyway.

The best way to handle the "forgotten password" case is for the user to request you to e-mail the user a link; when they click the link you allow them to type in a new password.

Regarding personal information (address, income etc): why would anyone want this mailed to them? They already know it! You're just sending private data unencrypted over the internet for no reason.

Answer 5

I build an Web Application to send sensitive information by email. It's not UI perfect but it's really secure and working very fine.

There an outlook plugin, API to connect external website and the WebSite.

The concept is the message received in your mailbox are not in clear text. It's an HTML email with a link. You need to click the link to access the content of the email. When it's access one time, the message are destroy.

The message are stock in a crypted database on our side. You can configure a password that are know only by the two part to open the message online, or receive an password (Random 6 number) by SMS.

It's very simple to implement by API.

There is a sample

// https://www.secure-exchanges.com/API.aspx

 List<string> files = new List<string>();
  files.Add(originalFilePath);
  string input = $"{body}";
  string inputSubject = $"Your {subject}";
  SendMessageAnswer answer = MessageHelper.EncryptMessage(new EncryptMessageArgs(GlobalSettings.bindingSecure, GlobalSettings.serial, GlobalSettings.ApiUser, GlobalSettings.ApiPassword, input, inputSubject + " - to open", recipient1, "", password, null, SecureExchangesSDK.SecureExchanges.SendMethodEnum.onlyEmail, false, true, true, "fr-CA", 1, 5)
  {
    FilesPath = files
  });
  if (answer == null || answer.Status != 200)
  {
    throw new Exception($"Impossible d'envoyé un message : {methodName}");
  }

Answer 6

When you are sending any information via email, it won't be secure. There are too many ways someone can get it. It would be child's play for a skilled hacker looking to steal your information.

Refrain from sending any personal information like passwords and income information via email as it can become VERY EMBARRASSING for you and your organization if such information was leaked or stolen. Think about security seriously. It just takes that one incident for all the bricks to fall.

As for password retrieval, thoroughly read Forgot Password Best Practices.

The bottom line is that an application following best practices should allow a user to reset his own password. Personal security questions should be used. The application should not send email, display passwords, nor set any temporary passwords.

EDIT: Updated Link...