Returning to the example lists I mentioned above, the EFF long list does not have prefix words, but the 1Password list does. It’s important to note that if there is punctuation or a space between the words, this problem does not exist. Note that this would only happen in rare cases when two words that make a compound word that’s on list are right next to each other, and, of course, the user chooses not put anything between the words. The user thinks they have the security of a four-word phrase, when they really only have three. The problem here is that, if “desktop” is also a word on your word list (and thus on a hypothetical and informed attacker’s list), this passphrase is only a three-word phrase, which is notably weaker than a four-word phrase. Here’s the hypothetical he’s describing: What if we just mashed our words together, so instead of “casket-stoppage-desk-top” we just used “casketstoppagedesktop” as our password. Mike Pound, explains something that perked my ears up: He explained that you need spaces (or other punctuation) in between the words because “sometimes you might accidentally join two words together and they’d actually be a different word on their and in which case your goes down to four words.” I learned about this issue while watching this YouTube video called “Diceware & Passwords”, which offers a nice introduction to a method of generating these random passphrases using dice. “denimawningbondedreturncamisolepebblecrewlessbook”). If a list contains “prefix words” (also known as “prefix codes”), users should not be permitted to create passphrases in which no punctuation separates words (e.g. Length isn’t the only choice that these word list makers face. Some examples: “aggeus”, “bildad”, “englex”, “faubourg”, and “mytholog” – not exactly correct horse battery stapler. (To be specific, each word from the 1Password list adds about 14.16 bits of entropy, while a word from the EFF long list adds 12.92 bits.) Of course the downside is that, since it has more words, presumably some of the words are more esoteric and potentially harder for more people to remember or pronounce. 1Password’s list is 18,328 words long, so each word adds more “randomness” or strength (commonly measured in bits of entropy) to a generated password as compared to the EFF long list. There are a few popular word lists in use today, the king of the bunch seemingly the EFF long list, which contains 7,776 words.ġPassword has their own word list for when users randomly generate password. It feels particularly human, and maybe Didionesque. As a journalist, I particularly enjoy that this is thanks in part to humankind’s ability to construct and recall narratives. To me, in an age where computers are doing more and more things that people thought they could never do (for example dominate the game of go) this seemed to be a neat example of humans, even young ones, still being able to coolly triumph over machine in an arena where it might seem like computers would have an advantage. Turns out a string of randomly chosen words can be difficult for a computer to guess, but still easy for a person to remember, especially if we use a bit of story-telling. Even the methods of creating these passwords, notably using dice, fascinates me. Then you can play on the go, even with no Internet connection.įinally, I love feedback! If you have any input on the word lists, whether they’re too hard or too easy or too short or anything, I’d love to hear! I’d love to hear requests, too, if you have a new game or category you’d like to see.A few years ago I got interested in passphrases (as passwords) and the word lists used to generate them. My amazing husband also made an iPhone app with all the same content. (The Categories will change based on the Game you select, and often include levels, like Easy words, Medium words, and Hard words, or might have a listing of specific holidays.) Then just click New Word and you’re good to go – the word generator will give you a game word from the list and you can play! Here’s how it works: First, select a Game (the game menu also includes a Holiday option). I had word lists for pictionary, charades, and other games, and visitors seemed to really like them! So I got to thinking, what’s one step better than a printable list of words for playing pictionary? An online word generator! Here I’ve taken all the words on my printables, plus hundreds more, and combined them into different categories for playing games like pictionary, catchphrase, charades, or any other game you want. When I was putting together this site of games, I discovered that my printable word lists became very popular.
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