How safe is my password?

[Gary Mitchell]

I thought that this was pretty interesting. I stumbled upon this website: http://howsecureismypassword.net/

I used an old password and got this response:

When I tried a second older password, it said it would only take 30 seconds.

 

[Amaris]

Neat! I input mine and got this:

 

[Gary Mitchell]

^That's a looong time. It has made me decide to change some of my shorter passwords, not that anyone is actually trying to crack mine.

 

[Amaris]

^That's a looong time. It has made me decide to change some of my shorter passwords, not that anyone is actually trying to crack mine.

After I had started my business a decade ago, I became very paranoid when it came to data management over networks, and so I started making everything more secure. My passwords are unique combinations, and as you can see, I'm so paranoid, I even blurred the dots so you couldn't see how many there are.

That said, this only deals with brute force attacks. Most people who would crack a system would use far better and more subtle tools, like, a website that asks you for your password to tell you how strong it is.

 

[thestrangequark]

I have two that I regularly use, and while they were ranked at "About 15 thousand years," and "About 100 million years," some one who knew me well might be able to figure them out faster.

 

[Amaris]

I have two that I regularly use, and while they were ranked at "About 15 thousand years," and "About 100 million years," some one who knew me well might be able to figure them out faster.

That's the real kicker. Most people who are going to compromise your security are going to be people you know and know you moderately well.

 

[Kestra]

I'm not contributing to a massive database of passwords by entering my own!

 

[gturner]

^ But what kind of person would ever type their password into an unknown website to see how strong it is? Surely not one in ten million people would ever do it.

As a side note, my password is entirely secure becaue it uses fractional ASCII, so I can use letters halfway between 'A' and 'B' or 3/4ths 'D' mixed with 'C', or even irrational numbers like sqrt(2)*'F' + 'G' Sadly, most password programs don't yet recognize anything but standard ASCII, so often I'm forced to resort to EBCDIC or Baudot. For example, I manually translate ASCII 'GTurner' to EBCDIC 'GTurner', then type it in the result (which ironically is still 'GTurner' for some mathematical reason that eludes me), confident that no machine can crack it within the lifetime of the universe, as having a password that matches the username is the last thing an intelligent program would ever try.

 

[thestrangequark]

^Well, that's why you try a permutation of your password. At least, that's what I did.

I have two that I regularly use, and while they were ranked at "About 15 thousand years," and "About 100 million years," some one who knew me well might be able to figure them out faster.

That's the real kicker. Most people who are going to compromise your security are going to be people you know and know you moderately well.

Exactly. Though, I've actually given one of my passwords to both my sisters, my mother, and my brother-in-law at different points when I needed them to do me favors like check my email for me -- so I'm not really concerned. Though I doubt they could figure out the other one.

 

[Kestra]

I have two that I regularly use, and while they were ranked at "About 15 thousand years," and "About 100 million years," some one who knew me well might be able to figure them out faster.

That's the real kicker. Most people who are going to compromise your security are going to be people you know and know you moderately well.

Exactly. Though, I've actually given one of my passwords to both my sisters, my mother, and my brother-in-law at different points when I needed them to do me favors like check my email for me -- so I'm not really concerned. Though I doubt they could figure out the other one.

Same here. I've given one password (or a form of some passwords) out to family members, and my husband knows my basic passwords by heart. He could at least guess at most of the combinations. There's one that I doubt he'd ever guess, though.

 

[Amaris]

I'm not contributing to a massive database of passwords by entering my own!

It is completely client side. The data isn't stored on the website and doesn't go anywhere, the site simply acts as a dumb terminal. No information leaves the system when the web page is closed. I watched with a packet sniffer. You would be alright.

Edit to add: In both cases above, if you wanted, either of you could add a symbol to your password, anywhere in it, and completely stump anyone trying to get in. People like to think in terms of letters and numbers, symbols come to them lastly, and by that point, unless they're keeping track, have no idea where to begin. A good symbol will secure your system much better than just traditional letters and numbers. When I worked for Dell, we were required to have at least two.

 

[thestrangequark]

^I use symbols in my passwords.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Most people who would crack a system would use far better and more subtle tools, like, a website that asks you for your password to tell you how strong it is.

Which is why it isn't going to be getting any of mine.

Thanks for reminding us about symbols. I haven't used any in a while.

 

[Kestra]

I use symbols as well.

 

[Amaris]

^I use symbols in my passwords.

I use symbols as well.

Good move!

Most people who would crack a system would use far better and more subtle tools, like, a website that asks you for your password to tell you how strong it is.

Which is why it isn't going to be getting any of mine.

You could always let me type it in for you.

 

[gturner]

Well, passwords are still pretty useless for security because God can see your fingers as they type it. He sees everything.

He even sees you when you surf barely legal midget bondage porn, which is why he has so many priests hang out there, trying to steer the flock away.

 

[scotpens]

^I use symbols in my passwords.

I use symbols as well.

By “symbols,” I assume you mean symbols other than letters and numerals, such as punctuation marks and dingbats.

. . . As a side note, my password is entirely secure becaue it uses fractional ASCII, so I can use letters halfway between 'A' and 'B' or 3/4ths 'D' mixed with 'C', or even irrational numbers like sqrt(2)*'F' + 'G'

I've never heard of such a thing. How do you do that?

 

[TheBrew]

^I use symbols in my passwords.

I use symbols as well.

Good move!

I use symbols in a 'caps' way in that I just 'capitalize' certain numbers. Makes my PW easier to remember than remembering the symbols. Also makes iteration easier for the systems that require it as I just capitalize a different number.

 

[JarodRussell]

LOL, what the fuck. Did you guys really type in your password on some weird website? Are you nuts or what? Your password is now 100% not safe.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

LOL, what the fuck. Did you guys really type in your password on some weird website? Are you nuts or what? Your password is now 100% not safe.

The site would have to have some way to personally identify you in order for the passwords to be useful.