A passphrase is a longer and more secure version of a password, with up to 100 characters. It should be difficult to guess, easy to remember and type, and not a common phrase. Passphrases can be created using tools like Diceware and are used for encryption and digital signatures. They were invented in 1982 and popularized in 1991 with Pretty Good Privacy.
A passphrase is a series of letters, characters or words that can be combined as a password. They are used for many computer programs, to access systems, data or messages. It’s similar to the shorter passwords in use, but a passphrase can be up to 100 characters long and offer extra protection when needed. They can be used as a digital signature or to encrypt messages and are often used by important systems that are vulnerable to outside hackers.
While a password is typically 4-16 characters long, a passphrase is typically at least 20-40. The common passphrase should be known only to you, should be long enough to remain difficult, difficult to guess, easy to remember, and easy to type quickly and accurately. The passphrase shouldn’t be a common phrase or taken from literature or culture. It shouldn’t be something with obvious meaning to the user or something that can be easily identified, even by people who know the user.
Different passphrases, just like different passwords, have different passphrase strengths. This is determined by the length of the sentence, the randomness of the sentence, and the use of characters available in the common lexicon. A phrase like “IAmTheKingOfTheWorld” wouldn’t do because it’s not particularly original or uncommon. Replace vowels with numbers, or a word with an anagram or string of nonsense words, and the sentence becomes more difficult. “I4m7heK1ng0fTheW0r1d”, for example, would be much more difficult.
A passphrase can be easy or difficult to remember and can be written down. Some passphrases are made up of random groupings of numbers and letters, although the sense of structure makes them easier to remember. One method of formulating a passphrase is called Diceware. This tool consists of a list of 7776 short English words and is determined by rolling dice. With a certain number of matching letters for each number on the die, different combinations of letters create different words. These different words can be combined into a sentence with more than 2,000,000,000,000,000,000 possibilities.
The modern idea of the passphrase was invented by Sigmund N. Porter in 1982 as a means of additional protection as computer systems started entering mainstream culture. Pretty Good Privacy, a popular passphrase method, revolutionized the practice in 1991. Created by Phil Zimmerman in the United States, it was used to encrypt email and features a public and private passphrase encryption key. A private key is used to open and send messages yourself, and someone else’s public key is used to receive or send messages to them.
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