How good are your passwords.

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Yiannis Chrysanthou, a security researcher who recently completed his MSc thesis on modern password cracking, was able to crack the password "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn1."
That's the fictional occult phrase from the H.P. Lovecraft short story The Call of Cthulhu.
It would have been impossible to use a brute-force attack or even a combined dictionary to crack a phrase of that length. But because the phrase was contained in this Wikipedia article, it wound up in a word list that allowed Chrysannthou to crack the phrase in a matter of minutes.
  • Profile picture of the author bernardthegreat
    Wow, that's really impressive. I bet many of us won't believe that kind of password to be used and easily cracked.
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Originally Posted by sandman123 View Post

    Yiannis Chrysanthou, a security researcher who recently completed his MSc thesis on modern password cracking, was able to crack the password "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn1."
    That's the fictional occult phrase from the H.P. Lovecraft short story The Call of Cthulhu.
    It would have been impossible to use a brute-force attack or even a combined dictionary to crack a phrase of that length. But because the phrase was contained in this Wikipedia article, it wound up in a word list that allowed Chrysannthou to crack the phrase in a matter of minutes.

    They just want you to think it is fictional.......
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Well, my standard highlevel pass is based on MY remembered abbreviation of two remotely related things with a misspelling and some variant. GOOD LUCK trying a dictionary account or brute force. I also don't use it on sites like this.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      My passwords are always my first and last names. Nobody...nobody would ever guess that...and nobody knows what my name really is. My plan is foolproof!

      Good thread, Claude
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  • Profile picture of the author awesummer
    My password is sooo good, I can't even log in to my own account.
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  • Profile picture of the author Amod Oke
    My password is sooo good, I can't even log in to my own account.
    We have all been there at some point!

    My password's are usually a big mix of symbols + some regional word + some ALL CAPS silly word!
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
    Originally Posted by sandman123 View Post

    Yiannis Chrysanthou, a security researcher who recently completed his MSc thesis on modern password cracking, was able to crack the password "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn1."
    That's the fictional occult phrase from the H.P. Lovecraft short story The Call of Cthulhu.
    It would have been impossible to use a brute-force attack or even a combined dictionary to crack a phrase of that length. But because the phrase was contained in this Wikipedia article, it wound up in a word list that allowed Chrysannthou to crack the phrase in a matter of minutes.
    ...but does he have a girlfriend?
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    • Profile picture of the author micheaelsteyn277
      Thumb rule to place password is "hard to recognize and easy to remember" do not place passwords as DOB,family members name,occupation name etc which easily gives the lead to identify passwords
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
      Originally Posted by Daniel Evans View Post

      ...but does he have a girlfriend?
      SWMBO.

      ... bonus points for those who know it without Googling.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Anything that can be found in a dictionary is not hard for an expert to crack. My passwords are all mixed symbols and pretty strong.

    At this point, I'm not sure that passwords are really able to stop all attacks anyway though. I don't think there is a 100% secure anything online anymore.

    Hey, NSA.......as long as you're reading -- could you confirm my statement for me?
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  • Profile picture of the author Sumit Menon
    I don't even remember most of my passwords. My fingers have a muscle memory of them.
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  • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
    you'llneverguesswhatmypasswordis.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
      Lastpass

      Generate secure passwords

      Password Length - 25

      A-Z

      a-z

      0-9

      Special

      Minimum Digit Count - 1

      Require Every Character Type

      Generate

      u%QAvYLUx8vDJBe8&XvQDgt*J

      Joe Mobley
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  • Profile picture of the author lcombs
    Of course any password can be cracked.
    But, as far as someone trying to guess mine,
    Zero to slim, and slim left town.
    It's the name of a fictitious animal Using upper case and lower case letters with numbers substituted for certain letters and numbers added on.

    I could probably pose the name as a trivia question on this forum and no one would get it.
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  • Profile picture of the author ShutupAndEarn
    password & letmein
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  • Profile picture of the author Fazal Mayar
    thanks for this post, reminds me my passwords arent secure at all
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  • Profile picture of the author lcombs
    Not sure if it's still true but,
    the popular password used to be "password".
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesLeeOnline
    I don't think someone can use password like that. If there is something like that then how he remember this :-?
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