Generating passwords

[SpecialEd]

Password managers are pretty much mandatory no matter what method you choose for generating passwords/phrases/keys. I keep mine encrypted on my Hard drive and on a backup thumbdrive(s). Plus a hard copy filed away in a safe place.

[jlittle]

Mixing languages is a very smart thing to do. I do that from time to time. Most people expect to crack a password that is mostly in your native language. No one expects you to write French, English, Finnish and Russian all in the same passphrase.

Mine are English, French, German, Italian, and Māori. Not that I can even read any of those (other than English) but it's surprising what one can dredge up.
[Edit] Just after posting I dredged up yksi, kaksi, kolme, neljä, viisi.

Regards, John Little

[citizen]

Mine are English, French, German, Italian, and Māori. Not that I can even read any of those (other than English) but it's surprising what one can dredge up.
[Edit] Just after posting I dredged up yksi, kaksi, kolme, neljä, viisi.

Regards, John Little

I am only fluent in English, and am learning Russian. I took French way back when, so I still know a bit. I love Chinese, Japanese and Korean but have never formally studied. Because of that, and the fact that I am slowly learning Russian, I like to use some words from those languages, transliterated to the Roman alphabet. Also, randomly using names from those languages in a passphrase is a good trick.

Of all the tools that crackers have to use, the one advantage us users have is the unexpected twist. Russian words can be very long in Cyrillic or Roman alphabets, long can be an advantage for security. But a disadvantage for memorizing. The reality is, there is no perfect password, you can only try to keep things secure by making it harder for the crackers. But balancing that with the ability to remember your own access codes.

[SpecialEd]

All cryptology is an arms race.
All cryptography is a compromise.
Randomness is the enemy of the cryptanalysis.