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Leet Speaking Passwords

Leet Speaking Passwords

A friend created a really cool project, where he’s defining words using hex value colors.  It’s called HexNa.me and if you click the link you’ll see an example of leet speak being used to turn #4c3741 to Acetal, which is a colorless, flammable, volatile liquid used in cosmetics.   This made me realize that Leet speak may be becoming a bit more ubiquitus and ready for public consumption.

Leet speak, for those of you who may not know, is using an alternate alphabet to replace typical letters.  Simple examples are @ for A or $ for S.  I could spell my name, Jesse as J3$$3.  The three replaces the E because the 3 has very similar physical properties to the E.

When creating passwords there are so many rules defining what and what not to do, but not too many guides on how to create memorable, secure passwords.

Almost every site that suggests a secure password (financial, data, medical, etc…) gives you a few basic rules.

  • Must contain upper and lower case letters
  • Must have at least 1 number
  • Must have at least 1 character (punctuation marks)
  • Must be at least 8 characters

We can all use password generators to create passwords, and when it comes to passwords that I do not have to remember I suggest this.  For example, when I’m creating a new user in a MySQL database I will generate a very long password that utilizes letters, numbers, punctuation, etc.

When it comes to remembering your bank password a password generator is not going to help.  We should all know by now, to NEVER create passwords based on our kids, dogs, or family members names.  We should also not use addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, etc.  This goes out to a few family members and friends who are still doing this.  STOP!  TODAY! 🙂

Instead, let’s use Leet speak to convert an easy to remember word or phrase into a secure memorable password.

I learned this technique from my Information Security Professor, Tom Calabrese, and I have been using it for many, many years now.

I’m a huge Star Wars (originally released movies – not the prequel crap) fan so, let’s use something from those movies as examples.  For instance, the phrase “May The Force Be With You” is memorable but pretty long.

We can go with “The Force”, which breaks down to

English:                 T H E F O R C E

In leet speak we sub typical English letters with numbers and punctuation marks to create something considerably more complex but still understood and read by humans.

Leet:                      T h 3 f 0 2 ( 3

In this example we subbed the E for 3, O for 0 (zero), R for 2 and C for (.

This example will meet the minimum requirements for most accounts, and once you get used to it Leet Speak will be easy to recall and write.

You can also sub characters for entire words.  For example, we can sub “I hate” for “ih8” or “I love” for “I<3” and then get personal with “ih8h@(K32$”

Eventually you’ll have fun creating these phrases and knowing that you are ensuring the security of your online accounts.

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Jesse Friedman http://jes.se.com

Jesse Friedman is a veteran WordPress developer. In 2012 he wrote the “Web Designers Guide to WordPress“. With years of ...

Leet Speaking Passwords

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