Quick quiz: Which password is more secure, ieatkale88 or iloveyou88? Most people might think both passwords would have the same level of security. Both have the same number of characters, both use numbers, but a study by Carnegie Mellon researchers revealed that one would take a billion times as many guesses as the other to crack. (Hint: One contains a more commonly used phrase.) In this interview with Lujo Bauer, one of the study’s authors, we will discuss how to choose the most secure passwords, and you will learn which passwords are most secure and why.
Expert: Lujo Bauer is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and in the Institute for Software Research at Carnegie Mellon University. He received his B.S. in Computer Science from Yale University in 1997 and his Ph.D., also in Computer Science, from Princeton University in 2003. Dr. Bauer’s research interests span many areas of computer security and privacy, and include building usable access-control systems with sound theoretical underpinnings, developing languages and systems for run-time enforcement of security policies on programs, and generally narrowing the gap between a formal model and a practical, usable system. His recent work focuses on developing tools and guidance to help users stay safer online.
