Re:Don't use 1234 as your password
by vezzy-fnord on Sunday November 17, 2013 @07:46PM
(#6751837)
No, no. It was 12345. An extra bit of security.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Pardon me, but 12345 is 3 extra bits.
explain.
Re:Don't use 1234 as your password
by sillysaurus2 on Sunday November 17, 2013 @08:55PM
(#6752071)
When the password consists of 4 characters, each being 0-9, there are 10,000 possible passwords; 14 bits are required to represent 10,000 possible combinations of anything:
log(10000) / log(2) == 13.28771
With 5 characters, each 0-9, there are 100,000 possible combinations, and that requires 17 bits: log(100000) / log(2) == 16.60964
Therefore, 12345 offers 3 extra bits of security compared to 1234.
Re:Don't use 1234 as your password
by vezzy-fnord on Sunday November 17, 2013 @08:52PM
(#6752060)
He's right. Decimal 5 is binary 101, hence 3 bits.
I wasn't literally referring to data bit, though. But he has a point.
Re:Don't use 1234 as your password
by joe_inferno on Sunday November 17, 2013 @09:08PM
(#6752106)
yeah, that's not why, but good enough I guess.