Title
How viable is password cracking in digital forensic investigation? Analyzing the guessability of over 3.9 billion real-world accounts
Abstract
Passwords have been and still remain the most common method of authentication in computer systems. These systems are therefore privileged targets of attackers, and the number of data breaches in the last few years attests to that. A detailed analysis of such data can provide insight on password trends and patterns users follow when they create a password. To this end, this paper presents the largest and most comprehensive analysis of real-world passwords to date – associated with over 3.9 billion accounts from Have I Been Pwned. This analysis includes statistics on use and most common patterns found in passwords and innovates with a breakdown of the constituent fragments that make each password. Furthermore, a classification of these fragments according to their semantic meaning, provides insight on the role of context in password selection. Finally, we provide an in-depth analysis on the guessability of these real-world passwords.
Year
DOI
Venue
2021
10.1016/j.fsidi.2021.301186
Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Password security,Password-based authentication,Context-based password cracking,Password strength meters
Journal
37
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
2666-2817
0
0.34
References 
Authors
4
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Aikaterini Kanta101.01
Sein Coray200.34
Iwen Coisel300.34
Mark Scanlon400.34