{"id":21927,"date":"2013-04-05T21:42:15","date_gmt":"2013-04-06T01:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=21927"},"modified":"2013-04-05T21:42:15","modified_gmt":"2013-04-06T01:42:15","slug":"strong-passwords-safe-secure-peace-of-mind-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2013\/04\/strong-passwords-safe-secure-peace-of-mind-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Strong Passwords:
Safe, Secure, Peace of Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

Strong Passwords are your<\/strong> first line of defense in preserving your<\/strong> on-line and real word identity.<\/p>\n

First, a password should be something you<\/strong> know, memorable to you<\/strong>, or significant in some way to you<\/strong>. We\u2019re all the stars of our own movie, but bit players to everyone else. The world\u2019s strongest password isn\u2019t any good if you can\u2019t remember it, or can\u2019t even enter it correctly if you have it written down!<\/p>\n

Second, let\u2019s go into the passwords or variations that you shouldn\u2019t use: your birthday, your significant other\u2019s birthday or anniversaries. Why because they are public record, or worse on your Facebook page! Never, ever, and like the New York City No Parking Sign, \u201cDon\u2019t Even Think About Parking Here.\u201d Public or open records are never secure, because everyone has access to the information<\/p>\n

Third, a strong password is constrained by the limits of encryption on websites. 1, they must be at least six characters long. 2, they can\u2019t be longer than 12 characters. 3, they should contain: upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers and\/or symbols. This mix will stop the automatic password breaking software called, \u201ccrackers<\/strong>,\u201d and give the garden variety computer hacker fits because there are 7 quadrillion combinations. If it takes too much time and effort, they\u2019ll go someplace where they can get something of value<\/strong>, that something should not be your<\/strong> identity, your<\/strong> money, and your <\/strong>good name. \u00a0So how long does it take to crack a password?<\/p>\n

26 character set (all lower case)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Length<\/strong><\/td>\nCombinations<\/strong><\/td>\nCase A<\/strong><\/td>\nCase B<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/strong><\/td>\n309×106<\/sup><\/td>\n30 seconds<\/td>\n< 1second<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/strong><\/td>\n200×109<\/sup><\/td>\n348 minutes<\/td>\n3.5 minutes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/strong><\/td>\n141×1012<\/sup><\/td>\n163 Days<\/td>\n39 Hours<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

62 character set (lower case, upper case, digits)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Length<\/strong><\/td>\nCombinations<\/strong><\/td>\nCase A<\/strong><\/td>\nCase B<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/strong><\/td>\n57×109<\/sup><\/td>\n1.5 Hours<\/td>\n56 seconds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/strong><\/td>\n218×1012<\/sup><\/td>\n253 Days<\/td>\n60 Hours<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/strong><\/td>\n839×1015<\/sup><\/td>\n2,600 Years<\/td>\n26 Years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Case A<\/strong>: A Fast PC testing 10,000 passwords per second, your friendly neighborhood cracker.<\/p>\n

Case B<\/strong>: Cluster or Supercomputer testing 1,000,000 passwords per second, a zombie net or an intelligence or law enforcement agency.<\/p>\n

1. Pet Names<\/h1>\n

This is the first stop in password land for a large number of users, so let\u2019s make life hard for the hackers by adding information that messes up the computer they\u2019re using to discover what you\u2019ve used. How about adding when you got your precious poodle (Fluffy\u201962<\/strong>), or how long Little Kitty lived (LittleKitty22<\/strong>). Go nuts! Have fun. Just remember it.<\/p>\n

2. Telephone Numbers:<\/h1>\n

Back in the good ole days, telephone had exchanges. If you\u2019re old enough, the first phone number you memorized had an exchange. The first number I ever had was Temple3-5767. Wow, everything you need: letters, symbols with upper and lower case. If you want to use something nobody will guess you could go with a public number from the time machine, like NAtional4-4343 the White House main switchboard until exchanges were eliminated.<\/p>\n

3. Automobiles:<\/h1>\n

You\u2019ll always remember your first car, \u201876Celeste<\/strong> (which was known in the states as an Arrow). Or you could have the car you always wanted \u201864Stingray <\/strong>or 1965XKE. <\/strong>Notice I never use the maker, just the model and year. It just keeps them short enough not to be unwieldy It could also include your favorite license plate\/registration tag number, but \u2013 please not the one that\u2019s on the back of your car now!<\/p>\n

4. Movie Quotes:<\/h1>\n

Try using the first letter of each word in a favorite line of dialog. Gone with the Wind \u201cFrankly my dear, I don\u2019t give a damn,\u201d would look like Fmd,Idgad. <\/strong>Or, from Cool Hand Luke, \u201cWhat we got here-is a Failure to communicate.\u201d Wwgh-iaFtc<\/strong>. My personal favorite, because the movie was so odd, is from Complex World: \u201cWe don\u2019t take threats over the phone.\u201d Wdttotp<\/strong>. It\u2019s a fun exercise in movie trivia. (And, if you want to win the bar bet,) in Casablanca, Bogey actually said, \u201cYou played it for her; you can play it for me. Play it, Sam.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Television:<\/h1>\n

Aw, come on, you had a misspent youth and adulthood. What was your favorite childhood cartoon character? BugsBunny?<\/strong> DaffyDuck?<\/strong> Mr.Jinx?<\/strong> Pixie&Dixie<\/strong>? How about titles of shows you wasted your time with: Untouchables, Roaring20s<\/strong>, 77SunsetStrip<\/strong>, Route66<\/strong>, Wagontrain?<\/strong> The list is endless, but meaningful to you, and that\u2019s what really matters.<\/p>\n

6. Old Addresses:<\/h1>\n

Sometimes a good password is as simple as the answer to the question, \u201cWhere do you live, little boy or girl?\u201d 46_SlocumStr<\/strong>. Whether or not your first home is now and empty lot or under a shopping mall, you remember it. It could also be the first place you and your significant other set-up housekeeping together. 55_ElleryST.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get creative, get memorable, and get about 10 or 11 and change them about every three months.<\/p>\n

Quick and Dirty Passwords:<\/h1>\n
    \n
  1. Take two unrelated words, say \u201chare\u201d and \u201czonder\u201d, stick a symbol between them, say \u201chare+zonder.\u201d Captialize a couple of random letters \u201chAre+zondeR.\u201d Then turn one letter into a digit, \u201chAr3+zondeR.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Another way is to intermingle a word with a digit sequence for example starting with \u201ctentacle\u201d and \u201c7654321\u201d you get \u201ct7e6n5t4a3c2l1e\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Password \u201cSafes\u201d<\/h1>\n

    KeePassX (www.keepassx.org)<\/strong> can store usernames. URLs (web sites) attachments and commands in a database that is encrypted with a 256-bit TwoFish or AES. To access the database you need to enter your master password. Then it will open from the USB stick and you can go to any secure website or just check your email on a public WiFI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Strong Passwords are your first line of defense in preserving your on-line and real word identity. First, a password should be something you know, memorable to you, or significant in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}