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Arid Radio Security Missives

Arid Radio Security #2 Passwords Part 2

Or, Stuff You Probably Already Know, But it’s Good To Have Reminders

Tip #2: Passwords and Password Reuse Part 2

Okay, so you’ve decided to reuse your passwords with a little extra on the end. Good for you! You’re now mildly safer than you were when you were just reusing them. But the next step is, what should your base password be? Please submit them below. Jokes aside, the biggest advice I can give is the longer, the better. In the age of computer cracking, length is the biggest thing you can do to keep your passwords safe. Computers either do dictionary attacks, where they input keywords or common passwords, or straight up try and brute force your password by systematically guessing characters until they achieve the right password. In both cases, the longer your password, the harder this will be to achieve. Randomized characters, like #, $, 6, >, etc. are not as helpful as this! It’s important both to remember your passwords AND that they’re long, not so much that they look like a keysmash. XKCD did a wonderful comic on this, which I will link below, that does a fantastic job explaining how length is superior to complexity. Even just a phrase or random words can be a good password, as long as you can remember it.

To anyone who understands information theory and security and is in an infuriating argument with someone who does not (possibly involving mixed case), I sincerely apologize.

Arid

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