Password vs Passphrase – Which Is More Secure?

With technology advancement, comes security threats. This has forced us to use some kind of security for authenticating devices and access to a network.

 

A password and passphrase are some of the security codes that we use to access these secured networks and devices. There’s been a long online debate concerning the two security codes. This is after hacking and identity theft incidents being picked up by the media with more and more internet users being more aware of the threats that lie underneath. However, which is more secure between the two? The determine the more secure code, let’s have a look at the two first.

 

What’s a passphrase?

 

Most of us are familiar with passwords as we tend to use them to log in almost everywhere from our email to a social media account. However, most of us don’t know what a passphrase is. A passphrase is a type of password that uses a series of words that can either be separated by spaces or not. For example, ‘thisismypassphrase’ or ‘this is my passphrase’.

 

Differences between a password and passphrase

 

A password as we know is usually composed of at most 10 characters comprised of both letters and symbols. This is could be a string of random letters and symbols like ‘Pa$$w0rd’ or simply ‘myname’. A passphrase on the other hand is longer than a password and can contain spaces in between the words. For example, ‘This is my network and I use a passphrase’. Besides, the passphrase can also include symbols and the sentence doesn’t have to be grammatically correct, it just needs to be something that you can remember.

 

The main difference between a password and a passphrase is that with the latter, you can use spaces and is longer than a password. This makes a passphrase easier to remember compared to a password.

 

A Summary table of the differences between password and passphrase

 

Feature
Password
Passphrase
Length
Shorter
Longer
Spaces
No
Yes

 

So, which one is more secure and why

 

A passphrase is deemed as more secure than a password. This is because, with passwords, it’s easier to crack them whether it’s a robot or a human. One can simply guess a certain length of characters based on various factors such as your name, city, birthday, etc. and keep trying until it works. With a passphrase, it makes it harder for a hacker or hacking tools to crack it since it’s longer than what most tools can break. It’s also not easy to guess a passphrase due to its length and use of spaces.

 

Besides security, a passphrase has more to offer. Passphrases are easier to remember than a string of random letters and characters that passwords use. For example, it’s easier to remember a phrase from your favorite quote or song than a complicated password. You may be wondering how secure a passphrase can be since it’s sentence-like in nature. However, a passphrase like a password also uses upper & lower cases, symbols, and on top of it, spaces. This not only meets the complexity rule but goes beyond it.

 

Most major operating systems and applications support passphrase. Windows, macOS, Linux all allow passphrases of up to 127 characters long.

 

Conclusion

 

With a passphrase, you are guaranteed peace of mind knowing your device and network are secured. When choosing a passphrase, make sure it’s at least 15 characters long including the spaces, and is a phrase that you can easily remember. The phrase should also contain at least 4 words. Don’t use a common phrase like a quote and create different passphrases for different accounts.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

 

Can a passphrase also contain symbols, upper and lower case letters?

 

Yes, a passphrase like a password can contain any letters and symbols.

 

What’s the best passphrase to set for my accounts?

 

The best passphrase should at least be 15 characters long including the spaces, have at least four words, and shouldn’t contain common phrases.

 

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