That was a hasty edit on my way out the door this morning. Reusing a password doesn't make it easier to decrypt here, it just helps with some secondary tasks, l

That was a hasty edit on my way out the door this morning. Reusing a password doesn't make it easier to decrypt here, it just helps with some secondary tasks, like validating decryption output (since ECB isn't authenticated). This is rather indirect, though -- not a great example. A better example would've been the password fitting in a single block (<= 16 characters). The reason I suspect even non-random passwords might be mostly fine[1] is because there's no oracle and passwords are generally short. There's not much there for someone to hang their hat on. It's only a hunch, though; if tptacek for example says something different, I'd believe him. 1. Meaning: No need to cancel Christmas. You can deal with it later. Not meaning: ECB is as strong as CBC or whatever.