How to make super-strong, easy to remember passwords

May 21st, 2012 - 02:14 pm ET by Yousuf Khan | Report spam
I found this article and its calculator quite the revelation. One thing
that prevents most people from making super-strong passwords is that it
would be hard to remember them. So what if they weren't hard to
remember? To summarize this article, it just says don't worry about
making your password complex, just make it long. Just the length alone
would be enough to defeat the world's fastest supercomputers, in both
brute force attacks and dictionary attacks. What they're saying is don't
make the needle in the haystack harder to find, just make the haystack
bigger. Every additional digit you put into the password, makes it
exponentially harder to guess, to the point where you could even create
an easily memorable password that would take longer than the entire age
of the universe to crack!

GRC's | Password Haystacks: How Well Hidden is Your Needle?
https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm

Yousuf Khan
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#1 Antares 531
May 21st, 2012 - 02:35 pm ET | Report spam
On Mon, 21 May 2012 14:14:11 -0400, Yousuf Khan
wrote:

I found this article and its calculator quite the revelation. One thing
that prevents most people from making super-strong passwords is that it
would be hard to remember them. So what if they weren't hard to
remember? To summarize this article, it just says don't worry about
making your password complex, just make it long. Just the length alone
would be enough to defeat the world's fastest supercomputers, in both
brute force attacks and dictionary attacks. What they're saying is don't
make the needle in the haystack harder to find, just make the haystack
bigger. Every additional digit you put into the password, makes it
exponentially harder to guess, to the point where you could even create
an easily memorable password that would take longer than the entire age
of the universe to crack!

GRC's | Password Haystacks: How Well Hidden is Your Needle?
https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm

Yousuf Khan



Some good information, here. The method I have used for a long time is
to pick a favorite song book and a well known song from this book.
Then use the first letters of the main verse, along with the page
number and song number. This is very easy to remember and it think it
would be hard for anyone to crack.

I keep the song book concealed in another room where an intruder would
not likely find it.

Gordon
Replies Reply to this message
#2 Gene E. Bloch
May 21st, 2012 - 02:45 pm ET | Report spam
On Mon, 21 May 2012 14:14:11 -0400, Yousuf Khan wrote:

I found this article and its calculator quite the revelation. One thing
that prevents most people from making super-strong passwords is that it
would be hard to remember them. So what if they weren't hard to
remember? To summarize this article, it just says don't worry about
making your password complex, just make it long. Just the length alone
would be enough to defeat the world's fastest supercomputers, in both
brute force attacks and dictionary attacks. What they're saying is don't
make the needle in the haystack harder to find, just make the haystack
bigger. Every additional digit you put into the password, makes it
exponentially harder to guess, to the point where you could even create
an easily memorable password that would take longer than the entire age
of the universe to crack!

GRC's | Password Haystacks: How Well Hidden is Your Needle?
https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm

Yousuf Khan



I have always enjoyed Steve Gibson's web site. Lots of ideas and a fun
style. For those not familiar with him, I recommend taking a look
starting at his home page:

https://www.grc.com

I don't necessarily follow all of his ideas :-)

Playing with the page Yousuf points to gives some *very* interesting
numbers.

Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)
Replies Reply to this message
#3 Dave \Crash\ Dummy
May 21st, 2012 - 03:52 pm ET | Report spam
Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Mon, 21 May 2012 14:14:11 -0400, Yousuf Khan wrote:

I found this article and its calculator quite the revelation. One
thing that prevents most people from making super-strong passwords
is that it would be hard to remember them. So what if they weren't
hard to remember? To summarize this article, it just says don't
worry about making your password complex, just make it long. Just
the length alone would be enough to defeat the world's fastest
supercomputers, in both brute force attacks and dictionary attacks.
What they're saying is don't make the needle in the haystack harder
to find, just make the haystack bigger. Every additional digit you
put into the password, makes it exponentially harder to guess, to
the point where you could even create an easily memorable password
that would take longer than the entire age of the universe to
crack!

GRC's | Password Haystacks: How Well Hidden is Your Needle?
https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm

Yousuf Khan



I have always enjoyed Steve Gibson's web site. Lots of ideas and a
fun style. For those not familiar with him, I recommend taking a look
starting at his home page:

https://www.grc.com

I don't necessarily follow all of his ideas :-)

Playing with the page Yousuf points to gives some *very* interesting
numbers.



I like the GRC hosted newsgroups.

Crash

"Never say you're sorry. It's a sign of weakness."
~ Leroy Jethro Gibbs ~
Replies Reply to this message
#4 Gene E. Bloch
May 21st, 2012 - 04:05 pm ET | Report spam
On Mon, 21 May 2012 15:52:34 -0400, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Mon, 21 May 2012 14:14:11 -0400, Yousuf Khan wrote:

I found this article and its calculator quite the revelation. One
thing that prevents most people from making super-strong passwords
is that it would be hard to remember them. So what if they weren't
hard to remember? To summarize this article, it just says don't
worry about making your password complex, just make it long. Just
the length alone would be enough to defeat the world's fastest
supercomputers, in both brute force attacks and dictionary attacks.
What they're saying is don't make the needle in the haystack harder
to find, just make the haystack bigger. Every additional digit you
put into the password, makes it exponentially harder to guess, to
the point where you could even create an easily memorable password
that would take longer than the entire age of the universe to
crack!

GRC's | Password Haystacks: How Well Hidden is Your Needle?
https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm

Yousuf Khan



I have always enjoyed Steve Gibson's web site. Lots of ideas and a
fun style. For those not familiar with him, I recommend taking a look
starting at his home page:

https://www.grc.com

I don't necessarily follow all of his ideas :-)

Playing with the page Yousuf points to gives some *very* interesting
numbers.



I like the GRC hosted newsgroups.



Thanks. That's new to me. Looks like I'll have to do some research...

Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)
Replies Reply to this message
#5 Joe from NY
May 21st, 2012 - 04:29 pm ET | Report spam
On Mon, 21 May 2012 14:45:50 -0400, Gene E. Bloch wrote
(in article ):

Playing with the page Yousuf points to gives some *very* interesting
numbers.



I agree wholeheartedly. In a very short time I learned a lot about making
passwords that are easy to remember but nearly impossible to crack. I loves
me some learning!

Joey from New York
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
   -- WH Auden
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