Via MacMinute:
Swiss researchers released details Tuesday on a way to speed the cracking of alphanumeric Windows passwords, reducing the time to break such codes to an average of 13.6 seconds. “Unix, Linux and the Mac OS X, however, add a 12-bit salt to the calculation, making any brute force attempt to break the encryption take 4,096 times longer or require 4,096 times more memory,” reports CNET News.com.
Hmm. I think that the various interstellar governments in the Star Trek universe must be using Windows. It seems like it takes no time at all to defeat the encryption on such things as the hangar deck door in “Nemesis.” Data got it on the 4th or 5th try. Heck, even a Mac will shut you out after 3 incorrect attempts…
