[104999] in Cypherpunks
Re: don't use passwords as private keys (was Re: Using a password
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Petro)
Tue Nov 3 15:32:46 1998
In-Reply-To: <199810292120.VAA01702@server.eternity.org>
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 13:54:38 -0500
To: Adam Back <aba@dcs.ex.ac.uk>, bill.stewart@pobox.com
From: Petro <petro@playboy.com>
Cc: redrook@yahoo.com, cypherpunks@toad.com
Reply-To: Petro <petro@playboy.com>
At 4:20 PM -0500 10/29/98, Adam Back wrote:
>Some people have been talking about using passwords as private keys.
>(By using the passphrase as seed material for regenerating the private
>and public key).
>
>I don't think this is a good idea.
>
>You can't forget passphrases. You can destroy private key files.
>
Yes, you can. I had an art director forget his 4 days running,
AFTER LUNCH. He remembered it in the morning, but after lunch he couldn't.
It wasn't a "passphrase" either, it was a _very_ weak password.
--
"To sum up: The entire structure of antitrust statutes in this country is a
jumble of economic irrationality and ignorance. It is a product: (a) of a
gross misinterpretation of history, and (b) of rather na=EFve, and certainly
unrealistic, economic theories." Alan Greenspan, "Anti-trust"
http://www.ecosystems.net/mgering/antitrust.html
Petro::E-Commerce Adminstrator::Playboy Ent. Inc.::petro@playboy.com
