Re: ADS Password Storage Protection

[Ansgar -59cobalt- Wiechers <bugtraq () planetcobalt net>]

On 2006-07-20 Roger A. Grimes wrote:
> Here is my statement: That password length is a better defender of
> passwords than complexity, character for character, and that length
> should at least be given equal treatment when creating strong
> passwords. 

I agree with the latter of your statement, but the former is plain
wrong. Length and complexity are equivalent, i.e. you can increase
either length or complexity (or both of course) to make a stronger
password. That's pretty obvious if you think about e.g. base64-encoding
a password: the encoding increases the length and decreases the
complexity, but doesn't affect the strength at all. It's due to the
physical limitations of keyboards that it's usually easier to increase
the length than the complexity.

Regards
Ansgar Wiechers
-- 
"All vulnerabilities deserve a public fear period prior to patches
becoming available."
--Jason Coombs on Bugtraq

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