Re: Password entropy

[Valdis Kletnieks <Valdis.Kletnieks () VT EDU>]

On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 14:51:25 CDT, Roger Safian said:

> BTW - I should also say that I am pretty sure that most users
> will find it easier to type words rather than a mixture of
> characters, although I have no real proof to back that up.

An important consideration here is that a string of words is easier to type,
which means that the typing speed goes up.  It's much harder to shoulder-surf a
10 word passphrase from somebody typing at 40wpm than it is to shoulder-surf 10
random letters from the same somebody who has dropped to near hunt-n-peck
speeds because the letters don't form a "natural" sequence.  I know *I* can
type the first 10 words of Styx's "This Old Man" from the Crystal Ball album a
lot faster than I can do the whole "This starts with T, Old starts with O, then
M, H, T, M, M, T, T, U...."

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