3 ms·
This is not entirely correct, we include non alphanumeric characters (punctuation) in our passwords occasionally because it increases the solution space for a
by keithnoizu 15y ago
This is not entirely correct, we include non alphanumeric characters (punctuation) in our passwords occasionally because it increases the solution space for a brute force attack.
While this doesn't really improve any individual password the fact that we occasionally include non alphanumeric charecters increases the possible password set from 62 possible charecters ^ password length to a something more like 90^password length.
Similarly we dictionary attacks are more efficient than brute force attacks because we're talking maybe 200,000^(words in password) if we allow for some common word permutations versus 90^passwordlength.
- kragen 15y agoYou seem to believe that you are saying something different from the comment you are replying to, but actually you seem to simply not understand it.
- keithnoizu 15y agoare you kidding, i'm pointing out the historical reasons for why we add punctuation chars in our passwords, as it directly impacts the solution space a brute force attack needs to cover.
- kragen 15y agoNo, I'm not kidding. And the comment you were replying to already explained that.