Difference between revisions 3697389 and 3791578 on simplewiki

{{documentation subpage}}

This template gives you a <nowiki>way</nowiki> to later prove that you are the person who was in control of your account on the day this template was placed. This is done by putting a code (called a "hash") on your user page so that, in the event that your account is compromised, you can convince someone else that you are really the person behind your username.

==Why?==

The intended use of this template is to help in the hopefully unlikely event that your account is compromised. If you published your real-life identity, then that identity could be used to reestablish contact with you if your account were compromised; keep in mind, in this scenario contact could not be established with you through your account, since it may be under the control of someone else. However, many Wikipedia users do not disclose their real-life identities, or disclose little enough of them that it may be difficult to establish their identity.

This is not a replacement for having a [[:en:Password strength|strong password]], nor for registering an email address for your account. You should still do everything you can to prevent your account being compromised, including using a strong password and remembering to log yourself out when using a computer to which others may have access. If you have one, it may also be helpful to post your [[Pretty Good Privacy|PGP]] public key. But even with the best of precautions, your account could become compromised, for instance, via a [[tTrojan horse (computing)|trojan horse]] or a brute-force attack on your password. This is intended to be a last resort.

==How==

The idea is to use cryptographic hashes; you choose a secret string known only to yourself, put it through a one-way [[Cryptographic hash function|hash function]], and publish the result somewhere. It is infeasible to determine the secret string corresponding to the hash; hence, an attacker compromising an account presumably would not be able to supply the secret string.

(contracted; show full)

This weakness does not indicate the [[commitment scheme]] is worthless, because the ''commit phase'' did not apply to all interested parties (the real person and all potential attackers).

==See also==
* [[m
eta:Don't leave your fly open|Don't leave your fly open (essay)]]
* [[Strong password]]
* [[Wikipedia:Changing username]]
* [[:en:Wikipedia:Security|Wikipedia:Security]]
* [[:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-05-14/Committed identity|Wikipedia Signpost: Committed identity]]⏎
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%" style="background:none"
!width="300"|Code
!Result
|-
| {{[[User:Anomie/Userbox committed identity]]|…}}<small><span class="plainlinks">
[{{fullurl:Special:Whatlinkshere/User:Anomie/Userbox committed identity|limit=500}} links] [[User_talk:Anomie/Userbox committed identity|talk]] [{{fullurl:User:Anomie/Userbox committed identity|action=edit}} view]</span></small>
| {{User:Anomie/Userbox committed identity|identity=hash}}
{{tlurow|Urdna/CIDuserbox}}
{{tlrow|User CID}}
|}

<includeonly>
<!-- Categories -->
{{DEFAULTSORT:Committed Identity}}
[[Category:User namespace templates]]

<!-- Interwikis -->
[[ar:قالب:هوية المستخدم الملزمة]]
[[bn:টেমপ্লেট:User committed identity]]
[[bs:Šablon:Korisnik kovertirani identitet]]
[[de:Vorlage:User committed identity]]
[[en:Template:User committed identity]]
[[fr:Modèle:Utilisateur identifiable]]
[[ja:Template:User committed identity]]
[[no:Mal:Brukeridentitet]]
[[si:සැකිල්ල:User committed identity]]
[[sr:Шаблон:Корисник ковертирани идентитет]]
[[zh:Template:User committed identity]]
</includeonly>