And also...

[rachelmanija]

LJ is informing me that my password is too easy to guess. Since my password is neither a real word nor a name, but a made-up word made up by me (like "galophalous" or "squidnik," except not one of those) I am wondering what kind crack LJ is smoking.

ETA: OK, OK, I'll add some numbers, which I really hope I will be able to remember.

Comments

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Are you changing your password, or did you receive e-mail? Are you sure it is from LiveJournal?

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Neither. When I posted, the screen that says "your post has been posted" informed me that my password was too easy to guess.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

All-alphabetical passwords are easier for programs to crack than passwords which are a combination of letters and numbers and/or mixed case.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I see. Well, I can't say that the thought of a program hacking my LJ scares me too much. What's it going to do, post Nigerian scams in my name?

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Yes. Or replace your LJ with one for the Nazi party. Or delete your LJ entirely. Or go to other people's posts and post evil things in your name. All of which have happened to people with compromised accounts, because bored script kiddies have nothing better to do with their time.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

I'm still keeping my all-letter accounts for my RP journals, because, please, if you have nothing better to do than hack campfuckudie then, well. But...I might change my regular LJ pass.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Might as well go ahead and change them all...I have a feeling this is just to ease people into being required to have a secure password eventually. Most online resources are moving to that these days; makes people more responsible for their own security rather than the emails of "OMG U let Haxxor get my accts!" *g*

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I think they probably object to any password which is all letters or all numbers, since those are easily generated by programs. Several other people on my flist have gotten this message lately--I wonder if they've been having problems with stolen passwords.

[moonlit-page.livejournal.com]

i got that too and thought it was a fake, but it kept happening. i think it wants numbers in with words.

[misia.livejournal.com]

Many password systems don't like passwords that can be cracked by simple letters-only iterative brute force attacks, especially if they are close to any actual word or follow predictable word-structure principles. Too easy to crack, basically. Alphanumeric passwords -- ones that combine a numeral or two along with letters -- are much harder to crack with brute force gambits because the number of possible combinations and orderings of characters goes up hugely. My Belovedary had to sit me down and explain all this to me once, so I am giving you the vastly condensed explanation for the sake of convenience. :)

My advice: try your made-up word, but drop a numeral or two into it.

For instance, if your made up word is "squidnik" try "8squid9nik" -- bet that one will work just fine.

[larryhammer]

I l33tify my passwords. Same effect.

---L.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I got that. Which is ironic, because Joe tells me I compose the passwords from hell. I told him some from defunct BBS's, and this time I didn't, for a change of pace. (It's been changed now, so I can say that.)

[hokelore.livejournal.com]

It did that to me, too. I made several attempts before it take one. I'd try a new one and get "That is a dictionary word" or "Must contain numbers".

I finally got it to take one. That was last night. Already, I forget...

[canandagirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got that too. I'm like ARGGGHHH!!! Another stupid weird combination to remember!

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Strangely, I got that message about a year ago and was forced to change my password then. It wanted letters and numbers combined, like everyone's said in lovely detail. Mine was only six characters at the time, though, so maybe they're raising standards slowly.