# Need a Strong Password? **URL:** \ **Category:** NYSpeed Off Topic\ **Created:** [August 31, 2011, 9:21am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058 "2011-08-31T09:21:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ProgRocker](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/progrocker/32/5434_2.png) [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 11:26am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/41 "2011-09-01T11:26:29Z")
> [@boardjnky4](#): > > Are you serious? Clearly I know more than you. They are connected by tubes!!! Actually that’s not totally incorrect. Fiber conduits suck. ---
**Author:** ![boxxa](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/boxxa/32/5045_2.png) [@boxxa](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boxxa)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 11:57am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/42 "2011-09-01T11:57:31Z")
[quote=“drvnkd,post:38,topic:216058"”] I hope no one hacks my NYSpeed account… I’m working on getting access to a poorly secured traffic signal control system… Then I will have full access to all other databases used for national security and I can blow stuff up with my PC. (Maybe I’ll disguise myself as a state trooper from Alabama) You security noobs clearly do not understand how the worlds databases are interconnected. [/quote] On a serious note, the worry is that someone who steals a weaker DB like NYSpeed will have your email and password and the general user uses the same password for every account they can. NYSpeed DB -\> username, email, password -\> try password as email password -\> find past emails for accounts such as FB, banks, etc. and reset passwords since you can view the email -\> access to more sites with just your NYSpeed password Smart people have weaker passwords for sites, more complex ones for more sensitive information adn then the central email accoutn should be super secure. It may sound simple to tech people but a lot of people do not really think about this. [quote=“ProgRocker,post:41,topic:216058"”] Actually that’s not totally incorrect. Fiber conduits suck. [/quote] Esp when some asshat in a backhoe hits it. ---
**Author:** ![walter](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/walter/32/7202_2.png) [@walter](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/walter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/43 "2011-09-01T12:21:30Z")
> [@ProgRocker](#): > > Well that’s kinda like saying, why bother with a WEP/WPA key on my router…the chances of someone hacking YOUR WiFi and stealing all your travel information, blah blah blah is slim. Why bother locking your car, if someone can just smash the window. No, its like saying, why bother with a ridiculous WEP/WPA key. My buddy’s is abacab1234567890987654321abacab which I find retarded. Mine is 000001111, I can tell my friends what it is without some lengthly story and repeating it five times. There is a difference between making a password that isn’t your name, and something that is 23 random special characters (which is what I’m pointing out is ridiculous). ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/44 "2011-09-01T12:21:47Z")
Lol we had a contractor dig through a fiber conduit a few weeks ago. Apparently they told them not to dig there. The foreman told the operator to just dig. They took down a huge portion of our networks. The foreman got fired lol ---
**Author:** ![walter](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/walter/32/7202_2.png) [@walter](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/walter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/45 "2011-09-01T12:23:29Z")
> [@boxxa](#): > > Ya people now have the same passwords for things. Single email account can get a users general password. Typically, the non dod clearance user has the same password for a lot of accounts and you can work from there to really cause problems for the user. Lots of places, their email/ad/vpn password are all the same so you can gain access to the network and start attacking internal things pretty easily from the outside. My passwords are all similar, with a variation for each based on a pattern that is obscure enough that someone who gets my email facebook password isn’t suddenly going to have the keys to the kingdom and all of my accounts. ---
**Author:** ![ProgRocker](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/progrocker/32/5434_2.png) [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/46 "2011-09-01T12:26:44Z")
We have ongoing construction on our street outside. We have conduit taking fiber to the buildings across the streets, and we figured there would be some problems. They wound up crushing part of the conduit with fiber exposed then proceeded to bury it. I’ll have to get he pics, but they tried to deny it. Now we are having our cabling guy test all the fiber pairs that go over there to make sure they still work (not all of them are used ATM). ---------- Post added at 03:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:25 PM ---------- > [@walter](#): > > My passwords are all similar, with a variation for each based on a pattern that is obscure enough that someone who gets my email facebook password isn’t suddenly going to have the keys to the kingdom and all of my accounts. Are all your accounts linked to that email? If so, and they got your password to the email, they could just do a bunch of password resets on your accounts. ---
**Author:** ![walter](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/walter/32/7202_2.png) [@walter](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/walter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 12:32pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/47 "2011-09-01T12:32:39Z")
> [@boxxa](#): > > dasd$3rfd@ is not a secure password. > R3@llyC00l is not a secure password. > > redhorsepilotcanyon is more secure mathematically. also, based on general public, companies that require 8-10 letter “complex” passwords leave their users to write them down on a pad of paper next to their desk. companies that do not allow long passwords are less secure than the admin making password rules like the following list I have seen: > > no repeating letters > must contain letter, number, and symbol > must not be one used the last 10 times > must start with a capital letter (this itself makes the first character only 26 guesses) > > Also, certs are only as trust worthy as the providers of them. The best security that is used at high level banks is client certs that are all based on machines and issued on an internal CA. Hell, the Iranian government was issued certificates to man in the middle all the Google sites recently. > > ![http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_strength.png](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/uploads/speedlife/original/3X/f/4/f4ac89b0bb201d6dc51e2bf969f41b7972550375.png) > . This is my point entirely. ---------- Post added at 03:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:31 PM ---------- > [@ProgRocker](#): > > We have ongoing construction on our street outside. We have conduit taking fiber to the buildings across the streets, and we figured there would be some problems. They wound up crushing part of the conduit with fiber exposed then proceeded to bury it. I’ll have to get he pics, but they tried to deny it. Now we are having our cabling guy test all the fiber pairs that go over there to make sure they still work (not all of them are used ATM). > > ---------- Post added at 03:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:25 PM ---------- > > Are all your accounts linked to that email? If so, and they got your password to the email, they could just do a bunch of password resets on your accounts. No. I have different email accounts for work, personal stuff, forums/social media and business related things. Thats mainly an organizational thing on my part, although I suppose it helps in your scenario. ---
**Author:** ![drvnkd](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/drvnkd/32/109615_2.png) [@drvnkd](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/drvnkd)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/48 "2011-09-01T12:47:02Z")
> [@boxxa](#): > > Esp when some asshat in a backhoe hits it. Verizons Fiber runs right on the edge of a lab of mine… (picture a small building near the very outer edge of a site) I’m told its a VERY important trunk line and is a part of a ring or something… So I’m going to be generating a shit ton of H2/CO in the lab that is attached to. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![boxxa](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/boxxa/32/5045_2.png) [@boxxa](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boxxa)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/49 "2011-09-01T13:28:30Z")
> [@walter](#): > > My passwords are all similar, with a variation for each based on a pattern that is obscure enough that someone who gets my email facebook password isn’t suddenly going to have the keys to the kingdom and all of my accounts. Ya thats how mine is. I have a really good one that I use for Gmail and some other banking stuff as a lot of accounts are tied to that. I have a basic one for stupid stuff like forums and then variations of it for how much that site has access too like paypal, other accounts, etc. ---
**Author:** ![neonglh](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/neonglh/32/4951_2.png) [@neonglh](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/neonglh)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:27am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/50 "2011-09-02T08:27:18Z")
We usually choose a line of a song and make that the password. When I was lab manager, our password was some variation of “as long as I gaze over waterloo sunset, I am in paradise”. It ended up being easy to remember through the phrase, but it was a 20+ length mixed alphanumeric / symbol password, that was next to impossible for human’s to visually see and steal. ---
**Author:** ![boxxa](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/boxxa/32/5045_2.png) [@boxxa](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boxxa)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:55am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/51 "2011-09-02T08:55:08Z")
^^^ LOL the best part is that the time needed to crack that password if you did it with no spaces and just the comma, So much more secure than a crazy 12 character one and this one wont get written down on a piece of paper. Estimated Gross Number of hours to Crack: 4,394,412,170,059,770,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 hours On Distributed Level: 183,100,507,085,824,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 days If Number of Machines Employed were: 10.00 |||| 439,441,217,005,977,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 hours 50.00 |||| 87,888,243,401,195,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 hours 100.00 |||| 43,944,121,700,597,700,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 hours 250.00 |||| 17,577,648,680,239,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 hours 500.00 |||| 8,788,824,340,119,550,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 hours 1,000.00 |||| 4,394,412,170,059,770,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 hours 10,000.00 |||| 439,441,217,005,977,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 hours 100,000.00 |||| 43,944,121,700,597,700,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 hours ---
**Author:** ![ProgRocker](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/progrocker/32/5434_2.png) [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:07am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/52 "2011-09-02T09:07:02Z")
So something like **Youareafilthypirate-hookerfromThailand** is more secure than P1ra+{H00k3r ? ---
**Author:** ![LZ1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LZ1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/LZ1)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:13am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/53 "2011-09-02T09:13:19Z")
As soon as you add a special characters the size of the keyspace doubles. They’re saying the longer is more secure if you can easily remember it and the time it takes to brute force a password that size. Unless of coarse you have legacy support on your windows environment and all the hashes are stored as LM and not NTLM. ---
**Author:** ![ProgRocker](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/progrocker/32/5434_2.png) [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:31am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/54 "2011-09-02T09:31:40Z")
I just changed my password to a 20 character password with a special character. How secure am I now 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:55am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/55 "2011-09-02T09:55:57Z")
20 char with specials is pretty damn secure…like walter said earlier, when you compare it to the rest of your employees, you’re likely leaps and bounds ahead ---
**Author:** ![ProgRocker](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/progrocker/32/5434_2.png) [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:58am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/56 "2011-09-02T09:58:07Z")
it’s also a special character that isn’t on standard US keyboards so you have to use the unicode shortcut. It’s a pain in the ass to type though. I’m just going to use it for my AD login and network stuff. ---
**Author:** ![LZ1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LZ1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/LZ1)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:03am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/57 "2011-09-02T10:03:32Z")
I’m telling you it doesn’t matter how long it is in a XP/2003 environment lol ---
**Author:** ![boxxa](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/boxxa/32/5045_2.png) [@boxxa](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boxxa)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/58 "2011-09-02T10:10:28Z")
The whole point of this is that long passwords that are dictionary words are more secure on a brute force attack for the combinations than shorted multi character passwords or ones that admins make you use only 8 characters with requirements for symbols and crap. There are more and they are also easier to remember than someone having to write down their password that has so many special characters in it and if you simply use capital and lower case letters, any letter you add is another 52x combinations. The password can be as sure as hell but if the system its stored on is easily attackable, its not that useful. Also, if someone can gain physical access to your box, your passwords are the least of your problems. Lol. ---
**Author:** ![ProgRocker](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/progrocker/32/5434_2.png) [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:22am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/59 "2011-09-02T10:22:32Z")
> [@LZ](#): > > I’m telling you it doesn’t matter how long it is in a XP/2003 environment lol We’ll be moving to Win7/2008 soon, as soon as the domain controllers are upgraded. N/M I couldn’t figure out how to get the same character on a mac, I changed passwords back. ---
**Author:** ![Hass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/51bf81/32.png) [@Hass](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Hass)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058/60 "2011-09-04T13:03:23Z")
MAKING A LONG PASSWORD MEANS IT TAKES LONGER TO TYPE IN EQUALS LESS PRODUCTIVITY EQUAL CASE CLOSED. [Previous page](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058.md?page=2) [Next page](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-a-strong-password/216058.md?page=4)