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Summary: Good passwords are hard to crack and hard to remember. As a result, many people don't use really good passwords, even though they should. We'll look at what makes a good password, and some ways to make them easier to remember. I told my friend my password, and she said it was a really bad one. What does it mean to have a "bad" password? And what's a "good" one, then? You told someone else your password? Yikes! I've seen more accounts get stolen by that one simple act than by any other single cause. I sure hope you know what you're doing - most people that have told a friend their password have come to regret it. So what's a bad password? One that someone could easily guess. A good password? One that's hard to guess, of course. The problem is that people are way better guessers than you think. And it gets worse if the guesser starts using a computer to do the "guessing" for them. • What's a bad password? A bad password is any password composed of common words or names, particularly if the password is short. For example, "iLoveMikey" is a bad password. "mydogspot" is a bad password. "GeorgeInParis" is a bad password. All are simply combinations of words or names. On top of that, many people choose bad passwords that express information that someone who knows you might be able to guess. If your boyfriend's name is "Mikey", your dog's name is "Spot", or you met someone named "George" during a trip to Paris, these are all things that people who know just a little about you can use to start making some educated guesses as to what your password might be. And as I said, people can be really good guessers. The irony is that the people who know you the best - your friends - are the ones who can probably make the best guesses and are the most likely to guess your password if it's a bad one. Another problem with passwords made up from words and names is that it's really easy for a determined hacker to set up a computer with a dictionary of words and names and have it start trying combinations until something works. What's a good password? A good password is a long random sequence of characters - letters, numbers and any "special characters". "qicITcl}" is a good password. "rAg2imWOIgIf47IM24busml6kpetPF9UGRpPAFBMCoSmSTptbDcOxwcG3aPoa79" is a great password. The best passwords are made up of completely random characters and as long as you can make it. You can see the problem - great passwords are impossible to remember. So if you can't remember it, what good is it? " ... pick a random looking password that YOU can
remember, but that 'they' would never guess - and ... always assume that 'they'
are always really great guessers."
The solution is either a compromise, or the use of some technology. The compromise The compromise I use works like this:
So, for example, while "Macintosh" is bad, "Mac7T0sh" might be good and probably easier to remember. "HondaPrelude" is bad, but "Pre7ood6" is much, much better. The bottom line for this compromise: pick a random looking password that YOU can remember but that "they" would never guess - and as I've said a couple of times, always assume that "they" are always really great guessers. Using Technology Never, ever, write your password down on a piece of paper near your computer. Paper is definitely not the technology I'm talking about. It's amazing how many passwords are stored on sticky notes right on the monitor, under the mouse pad or in a desk drawer. It's not that hard for the motivated to go searching and find all that. My old approach was to use an Excel spreadsheet with all account names and passwords - in fact I still do for much of my sensitive information. By itself, that's incredibly insecure and dangerous. Anyone who can get a hold of that spreadsheet has everything. Other people use simple text files that suffer from the same fundamental flaw - it's the moral equivalent of a sticky note. Anyone who has access to the file has all the passwords. The solution is to encrypt the file. I'm not talking about the encryption built into applications like Excel - which I'm led to believe is reasonably easy to defeat - but an "industrial strength" encryption solution such as TrueCrypt. Using TrueCrypt, you can control exactly when the information is actually visible, and the rest of the time it remains safely encrypted. My current approach for website logins is to use RoboForm. RoboForm captures passwords when you enter them as you visit websites requiring login and then remembers them for you in an encrypted database. When you return to that site, RoboForm makes the login available for you automatically. It includes a handy random password generator. Since RoboForm remembers passwords for you, you can use completely random strings - the most secure passwords possible, as I described earlier. But - be aware that RoboForm and the TrueCrypt-style of encrypted solutions both require one thing: a password to decrypt the database of passwords. That password needs to be something you can remember, yet something secure. However, remembering that one password then opens up the vault to your entire set of accounts and passwords. Related:
Article 10766 | Posted October 1, 2006 |
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One trick I learned from a website is to use the abbreviation for a sentence you can remember. For example: three blind mice, see how they run..
Password: tbmshtr
That's not a bad password, but now we can change "Three" to 3 and add punctuation: 3 Blind Mice (see how they run)
Password: 3BM(shtr)
And that is a pretty secure password. It's easy for you to remember and it's not based on an English word. Moreover, it has the added benefit that if someone happened to see it written out, they're less likely to remember it because it's gibirish. HaX0r 3ng1i$h w0rd$ don't have that benefit.
Also, if I'm about to choose the password for something I care about, I run it through a password strength checker. The best one I've found is at this site: http://www.certainkey.com/demos/password/ (if that gets nixed by the spam filter, google "Certainkey password checker" and it's the first result). Not only is it the strictist checker I've found (no english words allowed), but it gives an estimate of how long a determined hacker would need to crack it. The password above would take aprox. 67,000 days to crack.
Posted by: Mike Devlin at October 1, 2006 3:24 PMIf you want to read more about passwords, here's a a blogs that leads to some great articles about passwords and password myths:
http://www.techknowbizzle.com/2006/09/password-myths.html
But back to the discussion, so, what methods can be used instead of passwords? In Korea they're starting to use fingerprints as a form of identification. So intsead of using a password to log in or unlock your computer, you have a built in "digital inkpad" that you press your finger against to gain access to your comp. I don't know how realistic or how soon such a form of security will be implemented in America but it seems like right now the best idea for protection is to use a form of encryption in addition to your password, such as protecting your database of passwords, using applications like Roboform, or accessing secure sites that use encryption for protection. You should also want to also look into encrypting anything else that you might not want others to gain access to, beyond just your database full of passwords. Such as any scans, bank statements, health information, or email that should be protected.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/personaltechnology/2003209737_ptinbo19.html
Posted by: mroonie at October 2, 2006 3:11 PMIf you want to be *really* secure (if you're storing bank access passwords or something), don't just use Truecrypt on your normal Windows computer (and certainly not on a public computer). Put the Linux version of it on a CD or floppy, get hold of a LiveCD Linux distro (such as Ubunutu), and run Trucrypt from there. The purpose of this is to defeat software keyloggers, spyware, invisible PC-anywhere type software, etc. that someone may have installed.
Also, if you suspect someone could have installed a hardware keylogger on your computer (either by replacing your keyboard with an identical one with a keylogger built on, or by putting a small dongle on the end of your keyboard cable -- yes, it does happen) enter your password with the virtual "on-screen" keyboard using the mouse (most OS's have these to help people who have trouble using a normal keyboard).
And of course, if you're doing this at work rather than home, be aware of the positions of any security cameras or people wandering too close behind. Ideally only do this in a room only you have access to.
Remember, you can never be too secure. You can, however, be too paranoid; for which I reccommend a reputable therapist. Hint: any therapist who asks you to disclose your passwords as part of the healing process is automotically not reputable.
Posted by: Simon at October 7, 2006 10:32 AMHello Leo:
First of all Leo, I would like you to know how very much I do appreciate your website. Great and most valuable work, my good man!
I would like to tell you what I have done regarding secure passwords. Often when you buy a program on CD, there is a CD-key (product key) which you must type in before the program will install itself. Usually these keys are HUGE! For example, a Windows Xp product key has no less than 28 characters (dashes included)! I use a CD-key from one of my old programs as password. I made a macro (encrypted) of that key, and it recides patiently in my computer, and I can call it up whenever and wherever I need it. Just a click and there it is! Hence my passwords are all the same.
And if something really bad happens to my beloved puter? There’s always that CD in my box of goodies with my “password”. No need to remember a single thing.
In closing a tiny question: If a company for example sells 5 million copies of a certain program, are all product keys the same or different? Just to be on the safe side, I chose my password from a very, very old program nobody uses anymore, hence that ancient CD has become my “password CD”!
If you wish, please feel free to use this info on your website.
Martin Vanderkaa
Posted by: Martin Vanderkaa at October 10, 2006 4:27 PMYes, each product key is unique, though the same key may be used in a site license purchase, (and of course, pirated copies). But normal run of the mill purchases should each have a unique key.
fwiw, if my math is right, I believe a 25 character product key with letters and digits has 25^36 possible combinations (approx 2 followed by 50 zeros). While I'm sure not all combinations are used, that's more than enough to cover a measily 5,000,000 :-).
Posted by: Leo Notenboom at October 10, 2006 4:36 PMThe best method I know of to create a password is at http://www.diceware.com
Posted by: Richard at June 4, 2007 4:41 PMIf one is so inclined, it goes over the full mathematics of why it is a secure method of picking a passPHRASE. Just roll some dice, look up the words corresponding with the dice, and there's your password. You end up with a long password, that is truly random, but unlike any other method recommended for passwords, is easier to remember. Combine this with a password keeper like KeePass and you can have all the secure passwords you want.
but to be honest leo , for developers and programmers especially it's too hard to remember hard guess password every time you register an account in important site or make an account on a script installed on your server etc... , so my advice to wrote your passwords on a paper away from the computer and make this paper save , this is the only solution i see it very safely. " because systems and technologies could hacked or stole , but surely our memories and our mind can't"
thank you leo
Posted by: peter at June 22, 2008 8:48 PMhttp://www.fosdir.com
While "georgeinparis" might be a "bad" password, how long do you think it would take ANYONE to guess a password such as "george423crackers"? A long time, I hope, because I use such passwords.
Posted by: Julian Adams at June 24, 2008 10:15 AMI take my password (say buddy) then encrypt it with a simple cypher. use alphabet go to first letter put b then add say 3 letters and use that letter in password which would be the letter 'e'and so on. be creative. Read Dale Brown "Digital Fortress"
Posted by: JACK at June 26, 2008 8:49 PM