[Wolves] Password talk

[Adam Sweet]

The short answer is very easy, depending on how that information is 
stored on the machine. A 4 digit PIN is only 10,000 possible characters 
which my graphics card could guess in less than a second but that's 
probably not your biggest risk.

To crack the PIN I'd have to get hold of the file that stores it. If I 
have that file you probably don't have that machine any more so your 
biggest risk is having the laptop stolen and the thief taking the disk 
out and putting it in another machine. At that point they'd have 
everything on there without having to log in unless the disk is 
encrypted. If the disk is encrypted it becomes a whole lot more difficult.

The talk was more about passwords stored on websites and servers than 
local user accounts but it is an interesting point that you raise.

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On 18/03/2021 12:08, Andy Chamberlain via Wolves wrote:
> Hi Adam,
> 
> Thanks for your reply and I look forward to seeing the video on whatever 
> platform you put it on.
> 
> A question I would like to ask is; How secure is a 4 digit pin number as 
> opposed to a password. I would assume being only 4 digits  it would be 
> easier to crack. I use a Pin to access this laptop and was just curious. 
> What are the pros and cons of a password and a pin.
> 
> If you have covered this in the presentation there is no need to answer 
> my question, I will wait to see the video.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Andy
> 
> 
> On 18/03/2021 11:55, Adam Sweet via Wolves wrote:
>> On 18/03/2021 11:51, Andy Chamberlain via Wolves wrote:
>>> Hi Adam/Group,
>>>
>>> I am sorry I left so abruptly last night.
>>>
>>> Just as you started Adam the screen froze and I lost the audio I 
>>> tried coming out and going back in but no good.
>>
>> No worries Andy. Once I was presentingI wasn't able to see who was on 
>> the call (or them leaving in disgust).
>>
>>> I still want to see the presentation and hope the recording was OK.
>>
>> Sure. It will probably take a little while to edit, I'll need to trim 
>> a few bits out, but we'll put it on Youtube or something.
>>
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>>
>