From: Joseph Block <jpb@gate.net>
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 94 21:35:25 PDT
To: ebrandt@jarthur.cs.hmc.edu (Eli Brandt)
Subject: Pass Phrase Clarification
In-Reply-To: <9407040315.AA00976@toad.com>
Message-ID: <199407040435.AAA44488@inca.gate.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


Re:
> 
> > If I pick a verse of a song that makes it easy to remember.
> 
> Aaaaaaagh!

Eli, what I mean is, say you are using the stanza

Can we film the operation,
Is the head dead yet?
Get the widow on the set,
give us dirty laundry

as a mnemonic.

The pass phrase becomes cwftoithdygtwotsgudl
If you pick a simple modification like add 1 to the first letter, 2 the second,
3 to the third, and then repeat (123123) you get a pass phrase of
dyiuqlujgziwxqwtixen.  Throw in some numbers and you should get a decently
random pass phrase that is easy to remember.

If you're really paranoid, pick two phrases from different books and use words
from both to compute the phrase.

Hardly a major security risk if you pick something obscure.

jpb@gate.net