From: Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 06:16:48 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Spaces in passwords
Message-ID: <199604181759.KAA29832@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>Ben Rothke writes:
>> Do spaces (ASCII 20) in passwords make them less secure?
>
>Of course not. In a normal Unix password, adding spaces to the
>password search space increases the search space, so it necessarily
>makes the search harder.

Depends on the space of ideas that are leading to your passwords.
If the reason you're adding spaces is to separate an n-character word
from the dictionary from a 7-n character word from the dictionary,
this reduces the search space for a cracker considerably.
At least pick random punctuation instead.

On the other hand, if your password is a bunch of randomly chosen
characters, having another character in the space doesn't hurt.
#					Thanks;  Bill
# Bill Stewart, stewarts@ix.netcom.com, +1-415-442-2215