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The rules of ”basic hygiene”

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Checkmate, Mr. Hacker!

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Monday, November 11, 2019

Passwords are devised to protect information. Let's see whether the people behind information security basics actually follow the rules they make.

Somewhere around 2014, I found an /etc/passwd file in some dumps of the BSD 3 source tree. It contained the passwords of all the old timers, such as Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, Brian W. Kernighan, Steve Bourne and Bill Joy.

Source

In the IT world, these names aren't simply well known—they’re legendary. But what passwords were those people using?

gfVwhuAMF0Trw:dmac
Pb1AmSpsVPG0Y:uio
ymVglQZjbWYDE:/.,/.,
c8UdIntIZCUIA:bourne
AAZk9Aj5/Ue0E:foobar
E9i8fWghn1p/I:apr1744
IIVxQSvq1V9R2:axolotl
9EZLtSYjeEABE:network
P0CHBwE/mB51k:whatnot
Nc3IkFJyW2u7E:...hello
olqH1vDqH38aw:sacristy
9ULn5cWTc0b9E:sherril.
N33.MCNcTh5Qw:uucpuucp
FH83PFo4z55cU:wendy!!!
OVCPatZ8RFmFY:cowperso
X.ZNnZrciWauE:5%ghj
IL2bmGECQJgbk:pdq;dq
4BkcEieEtjWXI:jilland1
8PYh/dUBQT9Ss:theik!!!
lj1vXnxTAPnDc:sn74193n

Source

From the passwords quoted above, we can’t tell whose password is whose, but none of them strikes us as being particularly complex. Nonetheless, we managed to find our hero:

However, Kens password eluded my cracking endeavour.

...

p/q2-q4!

This is a chess move in descriptive notation and the beginning of many common openings. It fits very well into Ken Thompson’s background in computer chess.

Source

#password

The Anti-virus Times recommends

Well, we are pleased to offer our readers yet another tip for generating passwords!

It’s a good way to come up with memorable passwords if you like chess.

Just a few moves from an opening:

e4e5Nf3Nc6Bb5
d4d5c4e6Nf3
f4e6g4?Qh4#!

Although, strictly speaking, passwords like these can be regarded as dictionary words.

Source

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