About passwords and passphrases
Passwords are short sequences of letters, numbers, and symbols that you enter to verify your identity to a system, which then allows you access to secure data or other resources.
Passphrases operate on the same principle as passwords, and are used in exactly the same way. However, they differ from traditional passwords in two aspects:
•Passphrases are generally longer than passwords. While passwords can frequently be as short as six or even four characters, passphrases have larger minimum lengths and, in practice, typical passphrases might be 20 or 30 characters long or longer. This greater length provides more powerful security; it is far more difficult for a cracker to break a 25-character passphrase than an eight-character password.
•The rules for valid passphrases differ from those for passwords. Systems that use shorter passwords often disallow actual words or names, which are notoriously insecure; instead, your password is usually an apparently random sequence of characters. The greater length of passphrases, by contrast, allows you to create an easily memorizable phrase rather than a cryptic series of letters, numbers, and symbols.
For more information on passphrases, including useful hints on making secure passphrases, see the University Information Security Office (UISO) document
Passphrases operate on the same principle as passwords, and are used in exactly the same way. However, they differ from traditional passwords in two aspects:
•Passphrases are generally longer than passwords. While passwords can frequently be as short as six or even four characters, passphrases have larger minimum lengths and, in practice, typical passphrases might be 20 or 30 characters long or longer. This greater length provides more powerful security; it is far more difficult for a cracker to break a 25-character passphrase than an eight-character password.
•The rules for valid passphrases differ from those for passwords. Systems that use shorter passwords often disallow actual words or names, which are notoriously insecure; instead, your password is usually an apparently random sequence of characters. The greater length of passphrases, by contrast, allows you to create an easily memorizable phrase rather than a cryptic series of letters, numbers, and symbols.
For more information on passphrases, including useful hints on making secure passphrases, see the University Information Security Office (UISO) document