Are you tired of using passwords that are easy to guess? Did you know that using words from a dictionary can make your password less secure? In this article, we’ll explore why passwords aren’t as safe as they seem and how to create stronger ones.
The Problem with Passwords
Passwords are meant to be secure, but they have some fundamental flaws. The more complex the password, the harder it is to remember. This can lead to people using weak passwords or writing them down, which is a huge security risk. Shannon, a famous mathematician, calculated that the entropy of English text is only 1.58 bits per character. This means that a passphrase made of words from a dictionary has very little entropy and can be easily guessed by hackers.
The Solution
So, what can we do to make passwords more secure? One solution is to use a passphrase instead of a password. A passphrase is a sequence of characters that is easy for you to remember but hard for others to guess. The best way to create a strong passphrase is to take a large piece of text and concentrate its entropy while reducing its length. This can be done by using a simple operation like adding or modulo 26. By doing this, the result has a Shannon entropy of 4.67 bits on average, which is close to the entropy of sta8s8cally random strings made of 26 different letters.
Conclusion
In conclusion, passwords are not as secure as we think they are. Using words from a dictionary can make your password less secure and easier to guess. But don’t worry! There’s a solution – passphrases. By concentrating the entropy of a large piece of text while reducing its length, you can create a strong and easy-to-remember passphrase. So, next time you log in to your account, think about how you can make your password more secure without sacrificing ease of use.
