Choosing passwords, commonly misused words

Riches Communications Newsletter

Issue 6, May 2003

In this issue:

- Choosing passwords
- Commonly misused words
- Other web sites of interest

Choosing passwords

Most of us now have a collection of passwords to gain access to a range of internet sites. Nearly all of us have at least one password we use daily, to access email from a remote system. You may also have a password if you manage a web site, either for file transfer (FTP) or a web-based control panel.

The main problem with passwords is that many people choose passwords that are easy to guess. This can be critical if you are managing a web site. Web site hackers can use what is known as 'brute force' hacking to gain access to your web site. A basic dictionary might contain 30,000 English words. Add to this a list of 5000 common first names and a hacker has a relatively short list of words that can be quickly run through an automated checking system in conjunction with your username.

If you choose passwords containing numbers, this makes the password more difficult to crack with brute force. Including upper case characters or punctuation makes it harder again (if not impossible). The times below show how long it takes an average desktop computer (100,000 guesses per second) to randomly crack a random password using various character sets:

- 24 days to crack an 8 character password of lowercase letters
- 11 months to crack an 8 character password of lowercase letters plus digits
- 17 years to crack an 8 character password of mixed case letters
- 1900 years to crack an 8 character password using any of the 94 possible characters on a keyboard

A password from the dictionary can be cracked in a second or two! You can see how including mixed case letters or punctuation can make passwords incredibly difficult to crack by automated processes.

Ordinary email accounts probably don't need such a high level of security but it is still wise to make your passwords more difficult to crack or guess.

Some more password tips:

- don't add numbers to the end of common words or names, these are just as easy to crack
- try not to use common words at all, even by rearranging the letters in predictable ways
- choose a password that is easy to remember but hard to crack
- if you are extremely security conscious commit all passwords to memory - don't record them anywhere!

Useful link:

WinGuides.com Password Generator allows you to generate random passwords based on the settings you define.

Commonly misused words

The English language is full of words that sound similar yet have very different meanings. They are often confused in written text or speech and can alter the meaning of what is said.

affect and effect - 'affect' means to influence or to attack, as in pests or diseases e.g. 'The mildew affected the grapes'. 'Effect' is most often used as a noun, meaning a result e.g. 'The painting produced the desired effect'. It is less commonly used as a verb, meaning to bring about or produce a result e.g. 'The medicine has effected an immediate change in his condition'.

discreet and discrete - 'discreet' pertains to self-restraint or carefulness e.g. 'I told her to be discreet'. 'Discrete' means consisting of separate or distinct parts e.g. 'The course will consist of three discrete modules'.

compliment and complement - a 'compliment' is an expression of praise or thanks. A 'complement' is an object or person that completes something e.g 'The team had its full complement of players'.

travesty and tragedy - 'travesty' means a mockery or parody and gives rise to the phrase 'travesty of justice'. 'Tragedy' means disastrous or tragic and a 'tragedy of justice' is in most cases incorrect usage.

infest and infect - these terms are often confused. Diseases and fungi 'infect', which means to invade or contaminate. Weeds, insects and other pests infest, which means to inhabit in large numbers. These terms are also used in cliched expressions such as 'infectious laughter' and 'shark-infested waters'.

Other web sites of interest

Gibson Research Corporation : features a range of information on computer security and the ShieldsUp! security test for your PC

ThinkGeek : more gadgets than you ever imagined, this is one for the computer nerds!

USDA image library : stock photos for agriculture