But why not help a sixth-grader out?
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Modi, the daughter of ProPublica journalist Julia Angwin, worked with her mother to generate Diceware passphrases as part of her research for the book Dragnet Nation. The string of numbers corresponds to a word in the Diceware list, and Modi offers six-word passwords using this method. Those words are then combined into a non-sensical string (“ample banal bias delta gist latex”) that exhibits true randomness and is therefore hard to crack. These include using unique passwords for each service, creating long enough passwords that are easily rememberable, using password-managing services, and changing your passwords once in a while. Then you look up the resulting five-digit number in the Diceware dictionary, which contains a numbered list of short words. Modi reminds customers that the government can not open letters sent through the US Postal Mail without a search warrant.
Modi told Ars Technica that her friends may not understand her hobby, but she thinks secure passwords are interesting. I started this business because my mom was too lazy to roll dice so many times, so she paid me to make roll dice and make passwords for her. Then I realized that other people wanted them, too. We post a lot more social media-when people hack into that it’s not really sad, but when people [try to] hack into your bank account or your e-mail, it’s really important to have a strong password. “Now we have such good computers, people can hack into anything so much more quickly”, she said. “We have so much more on our social media”. You can count on her password creations to be stronger than anything you would normally come up with, because she uses a method called “diceware”. After generating, she sends a hand written password to the customer by regular post. As she grows up, she may have a future in cryptography and operational security. “We’re all on the Internet now”. “I’m so proud of Mira’s entrepreneurship”, Angwin said. But trying to make your own passwords is even crazier.
Reinhold told ArsTechnica that he was “tickled” to hear of Mira’s business venture. “I use a password manager, 1Password, to create and store passwords for my less-important accounts”.
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I personally find that my Diceware passwords are surprisingly easy to remember.
