CODEWITHSUNDEEP
security
Max White
Max White

Reputation: 35

Passphrase vs. Brute Force Attacks

Why are passphrases more secure than normal passwords? (p%9y#k&yFm?)

Wouldn't it be easier to crack a passphrase than a normal password, since it only contains letters?

And is there any way to make passphrases more secure?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 448

Answers (1)

Thomas M
Thomas M

Reputation: 190

In a brute force attack against a passphrase, since there are generally more characters, it takes longer to crack if just guessing.

Ex:

Password - e7%2b

Number of possible solutions: 128 ^ 5 = 34,359,738,368

(5 is number of characters, 128 is character amount in ascii for example)

Passphrase - iloveicecream

Number of possible solutions: (2 * 26)13 = 20,325,604,337,285,010,030,592

(13 characters, 26 * 2 (lowercase and capital) amount of letters)

A detailed attack can try and guess words based on other words, ex. with ice it could guess cream, but it still takes a long time to process.

Obviously, a super long passphrase is ideal but iloveicream is a very simple password for a person to remember which is why it is often said to be the best.

Upvotes: 1

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