Thursday, April 7, 2016

Security in Passwords

I spoke with a Network administrator at a school district a few days ago and he was having trouble with passwords being strong enough for the staff. He could not relay a way for them to get good passwords that were hard to crack so he asked me for some help in conveying the message and in coming up with a better way for them to do their passwords.

I creates this alphabet for him and I thought I'd share the idea so everyone can get an idea on  how to avoid having cracked passwords.

Security Alphabet
A = @
B = B
C = (
D = D
E = 3
F = F
G = &
H = #
i = !
J = ]
K = {
L = 1
M = M
N = N
O = 0(zero)
P = ?
Q = %
R = R
S = $
T = +
U = U
V = ^
W = W
X = *
Y = Y

Z = >
For passwords to be secure, you want something you can remember but also something that cannot be looked up in a dictionary.
Create a phrase you can remember:
“Pigs are good” then change the phrase to the security alphabet.
?!&$R&00d
Then you know it can’t be cracked from a dictionary attack.

If you need a longer phrase, then create one:
His socks are smelly
#!$$0({$R$m311y
Or break it up and modify it:

H1$$0ck$R$m311y

I hope this helps you to develop your own password strategy, and remember.... You should change it often.

Brett Hill, CWNE#147

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