4 min read
How Long It Actually Takes to Crack a Password
The answer depends far more on which hashing algorithm protects the password than on how many symbols it contains. Here is the actual math, worked through for both.
security
6 articles tagged “security”.
4 min read
Are QR Codes Safe? What "Quishing" Actually Looks Like
A QR code is just a wrapper around a URL, with no way to preview the destination before you scan. That single gap is the entire attack, and it has a name now.
2 min read
Base64 Is Not Encryption
Base64 is an encoding, not a cipher. It has no key, protects nothing, and is trivially reversible — here is what it is actually for.
4 min read
Can Two UUIDs Ever Collide? The Actual Math
UUIDs are said to be unique enough to ignore the possibility of a collision entirely. Here is the birthday-paradox math behind that claim, worked out in full.
4 min read
Why Forced Password Complexity Rules Make Passwords Weaker
Requiring a capital letter, a digit and a special character feels like it should help. NIST dropped the recommendation years ago, because in practice it mostly doesn't.
4 min read
UUID vs GUID vs Nanoid vs Auto-Increment: Picking an ID Strategy
Four common ways to identify a row, and the trade-offs that actually distinguish them — size, coordination, what they leak, and whether anyone else uses the same format.