wombat@uicsl.UUCP (04/23/84)
#R:wdl1:-19900:uicsl:12500023:000:796 uicsl!wombat Apr 23 13:16:00 1984 So encourage users to pick passwords that look like arbitrary strings, but can be easily remembered as a sentence. E.g., a password is actually "imimtlmom," but the user can remember it by taking the first letter from each word of "It's May, it's May, the lusty month of May." This produces a password unlikely to exist unencrypted anywhere on the system, but since it can be re-created easily, the user need not keep it written down. And I'm sure there must be quite a few other schemes this easy. (Like, pick alien names from obscure 50's science fiction stories, or use an uncommon foreign language, like Basque.) I think this password-checking is a good idea for systems worried about security, at least until a real, live secure UNIX comes out. Wombat ihnp4!uiucdcs!uicsl!wombat
amg@pyuxn.UUCP (Alan M. Gross) (04/24/84)
<><><><> Another simple way to construct memorable but unguessable passwords is to substitute 0 for o or ! for l (or something similar) in a word or short sentence. For example, consider H0wN0w 2Ba*... brownC0W fun+games fo!!owMe ^2now me&you whyKnot? ^arrow 2Bor!2B etc, etc, etc ... Alan Gross pyuxn!amg