TABLE OF CONTENTS Throughout this book, I have written about the importance of creating unique and unpredictable passwords. But I also advocate using passwords based on English words that are easier to remember. The problem is that English words are not unique and they are predictable. Even if you put a bunch of them together as a pass phrase, they are still quite predictable.
The solution is mangling, which is changing, distorting, mutating, or deforming a common phrase into something completely unique. Passwords that use diverse characters are strong and long passwords are strong, but diverse, long, mangled passwords are the strongest.
There is not much to password mangling. You come up with a password then go over it once using one of the below tips to modify the words enough so that they cannot be guessed. The ultimate goal is a password so unique that there would be a one-in-a-billion chance of anyone else having the very same password. The following are ten tips and an extremely valuable bonus tip that will get you started mangling.
So, you have a strong common pass phrase but you are afraid it might not be strong enough. Would it be common if Elmer Fudd spoke it? Writing your phrase in a different dialect or accent is a great technique because the potential humor is easy to remember and the modifications are easy to remember how to accurately reproduce. Here are some examples of how you could use dialects...
