How to choose a good password

[geoff@the-hermes.net (Geoff Weiss)]

In article <53fkl3$n7k@news.wco.com>,
Charles T. Turley <cturley@wco.com> wrote:
>
>That was a pretty dumb thing to have posted, don't you think?

There is nothing wrong in discussing how programs can crack passwords.
There are tons of UNIX programs on the net that can crack passwords
located in the /etc/passwd file found on many UNIX systems.

If a user is not aware why he or she should use a _secure_ password, it is
the user's own fault that his or her account can be broken into.

What are bad passwords?  A password is a name (Fred), a dictionary word
(donkey), a date (12251987, Christmas 1987), or Star Trek terminilogy
(Klingon).  Appending a number isn't much safer nor is capitalizing a
single letter.  For example, 1fred, fred1, 1Fred, and Fred1, freD1 are all
guessable passwords.  Something that is slightly safer would be fR1Ed.  

What makes a password secure you ask?  A random combination of lowercase and
uppercase letters, numbers, and puctuation symbols.  The password should
be eight characters for maximum security (or more if the system allows it).
For example, a password which can't be broken by such cracking programs
would be: h6F>9ukr.  The only way this could be cracked is if this password
is stored in a database of previously used passwords.  Well, it is not true
that the password is "unbreakable."  If you had a Cray, you could probably
crack the password in couple hundred thousand years.  The odds are too great
for the password to be broken.

I have no problems with these password hacking programs since it is up
to the user to be aware of his or her own security.  IMO, the more people
made aware of the existance of this kind of software, the more they need
to realize how to protect themselves.

P.S.  Why was Dr. Tom reading the alt.hackintosh newsgroup??  He claims
he has changed his ways...

Geoff
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