Cracking passwords
Steve C. Gold · Network Security · 2010
Passwords are all around us. We use them to authenticate ourselves to mobile phone and broadband service providers. We have to keep track of multiple passwords to access websites and online services. We may use them to secure our computers or individual files. The supposed strength of this security is the assumption that a password is something only we know. But are passwords adequate for today's security needs? How easy is it to crack them? And what are the technologies that threaten the password's usefulness? In this first instalment of a two-part feature, security journalist Steve Gold explores the current state of password- and password-cracking technology. Passwords are all around us. We use them to authenticate ourselves to mobile phone and broadband service providers. We have to keep track of multiple passwords to access websites and online services. We may use them to secure our computers or individual files. The supposed strength of this security is the assumption that a password is something only we know.