On Fri, Sep 06, 2013 at 02:19:16PM +0100, Daniel P. Berrange wrote: > > passwords are used. Maybe we could have a policy which requires _longer_ > > passwords but uses a much smaller dictionary? > Or by default require that every password have at least one non-alphanumeric > character in it, at which point it'll never match a regular dictionary > entry ? I don't think that buys a whole lot, since dictionary-based attacks do the simple transforms and character additions people usually do to get around such checks. $ echo password1 | /usr/sbin/cracklib-check password1: it is based on a dictionary word ("password" remains the most popular password of all, but "password1" is right up there.) This is why I suggest length. NIST password guidelines (http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-63-1/SP-800-63-1.pdf, go to page 107) suggest that a 16-character (probably all lowercase) password with no checks is as strong as a 8-character password with dictionary check plus character set rules. -- Matthew Miller ☁☁☁ Fedora Cloud Architect ☁☁☁ <mattdm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> -- security mailing list security@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/security