Episode 111: Analyzing the strength of passwords

Passwords are a common attack vector for fraudsters and making them stronger – mandating alphanumeric characters and capitalizations – is a common requirement. Joseph Bonneau, now an engineer at Google, has spent a lot of time studying passwords, and a paper he wrote after analyzing 70 million passwords took top prize in the National Security Agency’s first Science of Security Competition. Regarding ID's Gina Jordan spoke with Bonneau about his paper and the future of passwords. He thinks passwords aren’t going anywhere anytime soon but still and are a flawed security system. "Passwords cannot be redeemed as long as humans are picking them," he explains.