From: Jeremiah A Blatz <jer+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Sun, 9 Feb 1997 13:06:02 -0800 (PST)
To: unde0275@frank.mtsu.edu>
Subject: Re: Passphrase generation
In-Reply-To: <01BC1675.656788C0@s17-pm04.tnstate.campus.mci.net>
Message-ID: <0mzXk_200YUf021bA0@andrew.cmu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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Internaut <unde0275@frank.mtsu.edu> writes:
> Hi,
> I am wanting to learn how to generate a passphrase that is at least as 
> strong as the IDEA algorithm.  I have looked several other places on the 
> web for an answer to this, but they all had different things to say that 
> didn't add up (no pun intended :).

Chech out the cannonical passphrase FAQ:
http://www.stack.nl/~galactus/remailers/passphrase-faq.html

This one has some quick reminders of what to do and not to do
http://www.encryption.com/pphrase.htm

Bottom line, totally random ASCII will have lots of bits per
character, but english has about 1.2 bits per character. Misspellings
can add to that, depending on the extent of mutillation . Combining
certain words can make your passphrase weaker (such as "To be or not
to be," "This is my passphrase," etc.).

HTH,
Jer

"standing on top of the world/ never knew how you never could/ never knew
 why you never could live/ innocent life that everyone did" -Wormhole

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