How good are your passwords.

by 18 replies
22
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.
#off topic forum
  • Wow, that's really impressive. I bet many of us won't believe that kind of password to be used and easily cracked.

  • They just want you to think it is fictional.......
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • 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
    • [1] reply
    • 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
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • My password is sooo good, I can't even log in to my own account.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • 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!
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • ...but does he have a girlfriend?
    • [2] replies
    • 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
    • SWMBO.

      ... bonus points for those who know it without Googling.
  • 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?
  • I don't even remember most of my passwords. My fingers have a muscle memory of them.
  • you'llneverguesswhatmypasswordis.
    • [1] reply
    • 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
  • 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.
  • password & letmein
  • thanks for this post, reminds me my passwords arent secure at all
  • Not sure if it's still true but,
    the popular password used to be "password".
  • 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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    How good are your passwords.

    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.