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The Science of Strong Passwords

When people think about strong passwords, they often imagine random combinations of letters, numbers, and symbols - something like P@55w0rD!. While complexity is important, modern security research shows that length is an even more critical factor.

Table of contents

    Why Length Wins

    1. Brute force resistance: Attackers often try every possible combination of characters. The number of guesses grows exponentially with each additional character.
    2. Entropy grows with length: Entropy is a measure of randomness. A 16-character password made of only lowercase letters can be harder to crack than an 8-character password with symbols.
    3. Computing power has increased: GPUs can test billions of passwords per second. Short passwords, no matter how complex, are trivial for modern tools.

    Example:

    1. 8 characters (uppercase, lowercase, digits, symbols): ~200 billion possibilities → crackable within hours.
    2. 16 characters (even just letters): over 10^22 possibilities → practically unbreakable with today’s tech.

    Passphrases Instead of Passwords

    An easy way to create strong, memorable passwords is to use passphrases: random words strung together.

    Example: yellow-ocean-radio-mountain

    It’s long, unique, and much harder to brute force than a short, complex password like X!7p@z.

    Takeaway: When generating passwords, prioritize length first, then add complexity. A long passphrase is both secure and user-friendly.

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