Re: Password Strength

Posted by Pedro Almada on Aug 10, 2011; 8:09pm
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/Password-Strength-tp6673797p6673950.html

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Dear Martin,

I'd venture a guess it's not. Modern hackers use word lists to guess an
account's password, which are generated automatically from dictionaries.
These may be generated as to include common character substitutions easily,
as well as combinations of words. As such, the probability of guessing the
password is actually a function of the dictionary that the hackers use, how
rare the word(s) is(are) as well as the length of the password. This will,
by definition, be a higher probability than just having a completely random
set of characters of the same length.
Comparing both word examples, maybe the combination of words does have an
advantage, in that the hacker would need to have generated a longer list
with that particular combination. Still, the probability of your password
being found is only a function of its length if it isn't on the hackers
list. Hackers have such comprehensive lists that the only safe password is
complete random gibberish.

That's my guess anyway. As a sidenote, good choice of webcomic!

Best,
Pedro Almada
On Aug 10, 2011 8:30 PM, "Martin Wessendorf" <[hidden email]> wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
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>
> Dear List--
>
> I can't say I've ever sent a link for a webcomic to the confocal list,
> but here goes.
>
> http://xkcd.com/936/
>
> (As far as I know, clicking on this link will not infect your computer
> with a virus or take you to a porn site.)
>
> Anybody able to verify or disprove this? Intuitively, it makes sense,
> but so do a lot of things that are wrong.
>
> Martin
> --
> Martin Wessendorf, Ph.D. office: [phone]
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