Password
A password is a way of authentication. It can be used as a means to identify a person. Since the password is the only way to identify a person, it has to be kept secret. A password can be static. This means it will remain the same unless the user changes it, or it rarely changes. Or a password can be dynamic. A dynamic password changes regularly and does not remain the same. One type of a dynamic password is a one-time pad that can only be used once.
History
[change | change source]Passwords were first used in the military. This was to be able to tell who was a friend and who was an enemy when it was dark.
Modern passwords are made of characters, letters and numbers. Sometimes a password will require a minimum number of characters. Usually this is from six to eight. Some websites allow only the use of letters and numbers, but no other characters on the keyboard. Other websites advise using a combination of letters and numbers to increase the "strength" of a password. Websites also advise changing a password once a year or more often to prevent hacking. A person may be able to guess a password if it is too easy. While being typed, each letter of a password is shown as * or •.
Alternatives
[change | change source]Other ways of verifying the identity of a person include using fingerprint scanners and face detection.
Encryption
[change | change source]Encryption is the translation of data to achieve data security. To read an encrypted string a secret key or password must be provided to decrypt it.
Usage at login
[change | change source]In systems that uses login based actions, the password can be converted to the original string if the key is provided. Hashing is a one-way function and is irreversible.[1] [2][3] [4]
Brute-force attacks
[change | change source]- See also Brute force attack
Brute-force attacks work by calculating every possible combination that could make up a password and testing it to see if it is the correct password. As the password's length increases, the amount of time, on average, to find the correct password increases exponentially.
Methods of protection against attack
[change | change source]it includes preventing the capture of the hash of the transmitted password and protection against multiple authentication attempts in the system. Secure (encrypted) communication channels can be used to prevent interception.[5]
Related pages
[change | change source]- Computer security
- Cryptography
- Encryption - Encryption
- FreeOTFE - Disk encryption
- Identity document
- Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) - Email encryption
- PuTTY - SSH encryption
- Shibboleth
Resources
[change | change source]- https://useful.tools/password-generator Archived 2020-08-12 at the Wayback Machine a free tool to generate strong secure passwords
- https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/may/21/how-create-perfect-password-hackers-online-accounts-safe "How to create the perfect password"
References
[change | change source]- ↑ "security - Difference between hashing a password and encrypting it". Stack Overflow. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
- ↑ "Safely storing user passwords: hashing vs. encrypting". Dark Reading. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
- ↑ Exchange, Stack (2014-04-12). "Why should passwords be encrypted if they're stored in a secure database?". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
- ↑ "About password security and encryption". IT Glue Knowledge Base. Archived from the original on 2019-07-27. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
- ↑ Methods of protection against attack.