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Re: Re: Re: Password generator using a linguistic rule base

by bastard (Hermit)
on Aug 02, 2001 at 20:56 UTC ( [id://101714]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Re: Re: Password generator using a linguistic rule base
in thread Password generator using a linguistic rule base

Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great tool. I was just mentioning the pitfalls of something that excludes a set of passwords for the available selection set. (like my choosing of passwords that are comfortable to type quickly) When taken in the context of the entire net it will still be generating passwords that are probably an order of mangitude (or more), more difficult to crack than the average password out there. (on the other hand it is also probably an order of magnitude or more easier to guess than a truly random password).

The only people who would really be able to take advantage of such a technique are those with some level of cryptanalytic ability. Who know a thing or two about character frequencies and the human element. Heck real cryptanalysts can take advantage of a faulty random number generator.

back during wwii the germans broke the codes on a number of british one-time-pads. (Theoretically unbreakable).

It happened like this.
To create the one time pads someone would take balls with letters on them out of a spherical cage. After each ball was selected they would spin the cage (after closing the hatch). They were not supposed to be looking at the letters during the selection process. After a while they did indeed start looking at the balls. Sub-conciously they would pick letter combinations that they felt were random, but actually were not. Speculating that this was the case the germans did a bit of research, and discovered the the frequencies of combinations and were ultimately able to crack a number of the brittish one-time-pads.

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