RE: [Full-Disclosure] Senior M$ member says stop using passwords completely!

From: Banta, Will (Will.Banta_at_broadwing.com)
Date: 10/19/04

  • Next message: Todd Towles: "RE: [Full-Disclosure] Senior M$ member says stop using passwords completely!" 
    To: <full-disclosure@lists.netsys.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 15:15:22 -0500

    Wow! Three-year-olds are supposed to have a vocab of 500+ words....

    -----Original Message-----
    From: full-disclosure-admin@lists.netsys.com
    [mailto:full-disclosure-admin@lists.netsys.com] On Behalf Of Pavel
    Kankovsky
    Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2004 2:21 PM
    To: full-disclosure@lists.netsys.com
    Subject: Re: [Full-Disclosure] Senior M$ member says stop using
    passwords completely!

    On Sat, 16 Oct 2004, Frank Knobbe wrote:

    > It's a nice recommendation of MS to make (to use long passphrases
    > instead of passwords). But I don't consider 14 chars a "passphrase".
    > Perhaps they should enable more/all password components to handle much

    > longer passwords/phrases.

    A passphrase consisting of 7 words and 12 bits of entropy per a word is
    as guessable as a password with 14 characters and 6 bits of entropy per
    a character. You get 84 bits of total entropy in both cases.

    The only advantage of passphrases is that lusers might find long random
    sequences of words easier to remember than long random sequences of
    characters.

    (But wait: 12 bits of entropy per a word--this is equivalent to a
    uniform choice of one word out of 4096. 4 thousand? That might exceed an
    average luser's vocabulary by an order of magnitude! ;>)

    --Pavel Kankovsky aka Peak [ Boycott
    Microsoft--http://www.vcnet.com/bms ] "Resistance is futile. Open your
    source code and prepare for assimilation."

    _______________________________________________
    Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
    Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html

    _______________________________________________
    Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
    Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html

  • Next message: Todd Towles: "RE: [Full-Disclosure] Senior M$ member says stop using passwords completely!"

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: [Full-Disclosure] Senior M$ member says stop using passwords completely!
      ... A passphrase consisting of 7 words and 12 bits of entropy per a word is ... as guessable as a password with 14 characters and 6 bits of entropy per ... sequences of words easier to remember than long random sequences of ...
      (Full-Disclosure)
    • Re: Intruder in my wireless network? / intrusion detection programs
      ... Password/phrase strength is defined in terms of entropy, ... The advantage of a passphrase of random real words is that it's ... characters to achieve the same level of entropy as a password of random ... James Bond and the NSA ARE NOT trying to hack your network. ...
      (alt.internet.wireless)
    • Re: Intruder in my wireless network? / intrusion detection programs
      ... Password/phrase strength is defined in terms of entropy, ... The advantage of a passphrase of random real words is that it's ... characters to achieve the same level of entropy as a password of random ... "To provide adequate protection against the most serious threats... ...
      (alt.internet.wireless)
    • Re: Intruder in my wireless network? / intrusion detection programs
      ... Password/phrase strength is defined in terms of entropy, ... characters to achieve the same level of entropy as a password of random ... But if sufficient extra characters are used a passphrase of ... "To provide adequate protection against the most serious threats... ...
      (alt.internet.wireless)
    • Re: k-deterministic public-private key generation
      ... sufficient entropy and 2) be easy to remember. ... lower bound on length of 40 characters. ... words, a common word with random substitutions, etc., to the more ... public/private key pair. ...
      (sci.crypt)
    • Quantcast