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Time It Takes a Hacker's Computer to Randomly Guess Your Password
book of joe ^ | February 05, 2011

Posted on 03/06/2011 10:49:29 AM PST by george76


(Excerpt) Read more at bookofjoe.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: password
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1 posted on 03/06/2011 10:49:30 AM PST by george76
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To: george76

Paging Watson. Paging Watson . . .


2 posted on 03/06/2011 10:54:30 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: george76

Mine are in Latin, does that help?


3 posted on 03/06/2011 11:00:59 AM PST by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: george76

What do you need a password for?


4 posted on 03/06/2011 11:07:17 AM PST by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: Straight Vermonter

Not any more, now that we know...


5 posted on 03/06/2011 11:08:25 AM PST by null and void (We are now in day 775 of our national holiday from reality. - tic. tic. tic. It's almost 3 AM)
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To: george76

I just use “password” - isn’t that good enough? /s


6 posted on 03/06/2011 11:11:25 AM PST by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten (Welcome to the USA - where every day is Backwards Day!)
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To: george76

this is my password that i use AllenLudden


7 posted on 03/06/2011 11:15:49 AM PST by al baby (Hi Mom!!! <sarc>)
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To: george76
I use ten characters plus numbers. I read somewhere that "Pizza" was
the most popular password.
8 posted on 03/06/2011 11:18:09 AM PST by MaxMax
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To: george76

Take a guy aged 18-70.
Find out what college he went to.
Find out what year he graduated, or what year he was born.

75% probability his password is something like “Buckeye 98” or “Buckeye51”.

Of course, 99% of all quoted probability numbers are made up...


9 posted on 03/06/2011 11:24:11 AM PST by Nabber
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To: george76

Some places don’t allow numbers or symbols.


10 posted on 03/06/2011 11:32:06 AM PST by TribalPrincess2U (They don't need to do another 911. They have BHO and the Fleebaggers.)
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To: george76

It’s certainly trivial to generate all of the possible sequences in a mimimal amount of time, particularly for shorter, all lower-case passwords.

On the other hand, how many login systems would allow such a huge number of failed attempts at the rate needed to make the stated times real? Any that do clearly aren’t following good security practices on their end.


11 posted on 03/06/2011 11:36:06 AM PST by Bob
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To: george76

Our mixed SPARC Solaris/X86 Linux environment
is administered with a password policy that
requires 12 character passwords that must
include upper case, lower case, a number and
a symbol. Passwords must be changed quarterly.
You can not reuse a password.


12 posted on 03/06/2011 11:42:54 AM PST by Myrddin
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To: george76

Our mixed SPARC Solaris/X86 Linux environment
is administered with a password policy that
requires 12 character passwords that must
include upper case, lower case, a number and
a symbol. Passwords must be changed quarterly.
You can not reuse a password.


13 posted on 03/06/2011 11:43:52 AM PST by Myrddin
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To: Bob
On the other hand, how many login systems would allow such a huge number of failed attempts at the rate needed to make the stated times real? Any that do clearly aren’t following good security practices on their end.

This is a common misconception which has injured many. The encrypted password must be looked up in a database of encrypted passwords. If the attacker gains access to the database and copies it, the lookups may be performed offline with respect to the attacked system or systems. The attacker will know when they have the correct password, and they may use it without leaving a trail of failed attempts.

14 posted on 03/06/2011 11:50:50 AM PST by no-s (B.L.O.A.T. and every day...because some day soon they won't be making any more...for you.)
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To: Myrddin
Our mixed SPARC Solaris/X86 Linux environment is administered with a password policy that requires 12 character passwords that must include upper case, lower case, a number and a symbol. Passwords must be changed quarterly. You can not reuse a password.

And you can find everyone's password on a sticky note stuck to their monitor.

15 posted on 03/06/2011 11:55:05 AM PST by Royal Wulff
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To: Bob

you got that right. I have made entry mistakes, twice, then I am locked out. Can’t get back in until I call, sometimes they tell me change everything, just because ??.


16 posted on 03/06/2011 11:58:41 AM PST by annieokie
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To: Royal Wulff
""""And you can find everyone's password on a sticky note stuck to their monitor.""""

THAT'S JUST FUNNY, so true.

17 posted on 03/06/2011 12:00:25 PM PST by annieokie
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To: Bob

With all due respect, you’ve obviously never tried to hack into anything, Bob. There are two primary methods, the first being creating your own backdoor or exploiting an existing one, and then creating your own superuser.

The second, which is addressed here (poorly) is just using brute force and trying passwords until you get it right. It’s almost impossible to do directly at the user login prompt. Instead, you attack the password file itself which you can rapidly hit a gazzilon times a second until you score. Then, you go to the user login.


18 posted on 03/06/2011 12:11:12 PM PST by Melas
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To: no-s
This is a common misconception which has injured many. The encrypted password must be looked up in a database of encrypted passwords. If the attacker gains access to the database and copies it, the lookups may be performed offline with respect to the attacked system or systems. The attacker will know when they have the correct password, and they may use it without leaving a trail of failed attempts.

Doesn't that method require the attacker to know the encryption algorithm and the seed being used to perform the encryption? Or can that information be determined from the encrypted passwords in the database?

19 posted on 03/06/2011 12:15:51 PM PST by Bob
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To: al baby

I would have guessed “beeber”.....


20 posted on 03/06/2011 12:21:45 PM PST by nevergore ("It could be that the purpose of my life is simply to serve as a warning to others.")
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