Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!haven!adm!xadmx!Kemp@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL From: Kemp@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: PASSWORD GUESSING Message-ID: <20656@adm.BRL.MIL> Date: 21 Aug 89 00:28:32 GMT Sender: news@adm.BRL.MIL Lines: 22 Chris Torek writes: > I am a bit surprised that someone at NCSC would suggest this without > at least a caveat. Chris is absolutely correct here (as usual). One should not just take any program for password generation (like you might find on a unix archive) and blindly trust that it will actually generate good random passwords. I was extrapolating from the Multics and VMS programs, which presumably use decent algorithms and have been verified by computer security experts. I also did not include a very important disclaimer: "Although this message was posted from a NCSC machine, it's contents do not reflect the views of anyone but the author, who is not in any sense an authority on computer security." Dave Kemp P.S. Several people have sent mail asking where password generating programs might be found. I have no idea; just a vague memory of having seen references to them.