3201 - Passwords again

Well there is a new level of password cracking since people are putting a little more effort into coming up with good passwords.

Bad Passwords -
123456
qwerty
Cassie86
Cubs1908

Good passwords? -
Zdhkqjbu83
74Xmbgdapw
Bmukwes3901!
lw;62v74y

Apparently not. According to the ARTICLE: 'The short answer is that they follow some of the most common patterns of composition that people use to create passwords, patterns that weaken them.'


More from the article:

'Here are the three most common patterns KoreLogic found among the thousands it identified in those companies:

• One upper case, then 5 lower case, then 2 digits  (Example: Dulith57)
• One upper case, then 6 lower case, then 2 digits  (Example: Abugmar64)
• One upper case, then 3 lower case, then 4 digits  (Example: Itio1981)

More common mistakes:
• Starting with an uppercase letter followed by lowercase letters
• When a password isn’t long enough, adding a letter or two to the base word
• Putting digits, especially two or four of them, before or after the letters
• When a special character is required, using “!” and putting it at the end
• Not using two special characters in the same password '


So go ahead. Create the password from hell. It will be a safe one because no one will ever guess it. Including you.