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It's kind of a fun working out how many passwords that is.

So letters + numbers + 3 special characters. Our first and last positions can't be special characters, and we can't have the same letters concurrently, so we're in the ballpark of:

62^2 * 64^6 = 264,157,668,573,184 passwords

However, passwords must contain a letter, number, and special character. This means that we can eliminate the entire letters + numbers set, the numbers + specials set, and the letters + specials set:

(62^2 * 64^6) - (62 * 61^7) - (10^2 * 12^6) - (52^2 * 54^6) = 2,261,873,997,098 - Did I get that math right?

That's still a decently large space, but it's small enough to be attackable even if the passwords are hashed.



Two trillion? That's pitiful. That could be cracked even if it's hashed with a slow algorithm.


assuming you have unrestricted access to the user information, which to me usually means I already have unfettered access to your system, why would I need passwords?

Do many systems allow nearly unlimited attempts? Is this common on some platforms? For all except the most locked down users; single task; it pretty much is three strikes your out, call to fix your access.




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