Checking Password Strength

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[RetiredGeek]

Hey Y’all,

While doing some maintenance on my main driver I came across Gibson Research’s HayStack password strength checker so I thought I’d give it a whirl to see how my security stacks up.

PC Logon Password:

Not bad…

Password Manager Master Password:

That’s a bit better…

Online Investment Account:

Now we’re cooking with gas… It also has 2FA enabled of course.

When’s the last time you checked your passwords.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

• This topic was modified 8 months, 4 weeks ago by RetiredGeek.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Steve, TechTango

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I only have one, for my password manager and it comes in at 5.43 hundred thousand trillion centuries in a massive cracking array.
Everything else is stored in the manager.

cheers Paul

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Paul,

Mine are also stored in a PM (RoboForm) with the exception of the logon password for the machine.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I use a password-protected Excel spreadsheet for password management, nothing in the cloud.  Any password cracking is going to require access to my PC, and that ain’t happening.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Steve

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bbearren wrote:

I use a password-protected Excel spreadsheet for password management

I use a 20 character, password-protected (SHA-256 encryption) MS Word docx.  I’m assuming a PW protected Excel spreadsheet is also encrypted.

Desktop mobo Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

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TechTango wrote:

I’m assuming a PW protected Excel spreadsheet is also encrypted.

My understanding is that AES-256 encryption is used on a password protected Excel file.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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bbearren wrote:

My understanding is that AES-256 encryption is used on a password protected Excel file.

Whoops.  You are correct.  Important difference.  Thanks for the nudge.

AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard 256): A symmetric-key block cipher used for encrypting data to prevent unauthorized access. It uses a secret key for both encryption and decryption, making it suitable for secure data storage and transmission.

SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm 256): A cryptographic hash function used for data integrity and authenticity verification. It takes an input (message) and produces a fixed-size hash value (256 bits), which cannot be reversed to retrieve the original message.

Desktop mobo Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

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