The '''NeoSmart Password Model''' is the official name of an initiative started by [http://neosmart.net/ NeoSmart Technologies] to introducing passwords built on a basis of complex/foreign characters in an attempt to reach a higher degree of security. Dubbed "uncrackable passwords" by fans, they are in fact not far behind.
== The Traditional Password Model ==
The current password model employed by the greater majority of todays computer users of all levels of experience revolves around creaing a password that is as difficult to crack as possible. In the current model, the strength of a password directly varies with its length, and at first, with its "makeup."
All passwords that fall under this model make use of a common base, built of the sets that include letters, numbers, symbols, and printable markings. Security is achieved by increasing the length and including characters from as many different "makeup" groups as possible.
== What the NeoSmart Password Model attempts to do ==
The NeoSmart Security Model is built around one goal: introducing as many non-ANSI compliant Unicode characters to a password, while keeping the password from getting out of hand in terms of length and difficulty.
Instead of only using characters, numbers, and symbols; the NeoSmart model focuses on the usage of non-English characters, specifically the language-independant subset.
Such characters include accented characters, signs, pointers, and other non-ANSI symbols. Examples are ♪, →, Ł, ↨, ♀, and §.
== The Mathematical Reasoning ==
As highlighted in the security whitepaper [http://www.neosmart.net/forums/index.php?gettopic=10 The Advent of Uncrackable Passwords] distributed by NeoSmart Technologies, the mathematics is a series of probability calculations that compare the probabilities of brute forcing a password built on the traditional security model compared to the probability of discovering a password under similar conditions written according to the NeoSmart model.
The mathematics take the form of:
<math>Base^n + Base^(n-1) + .... + Base^2 + Base^1</math>
Where "Base" is the number of different characters possible in the "makeup" of the password.
The two sequences are compared for finite values of n, and the relative strength is thus determined.
The base used for the traditional security model is 68, while NeoSmart researchers capped the base for non-ANSI unicode characters at 700, with a footnote highlighting the fact that there are far more than 1500 in reality, but for various scientific and commercial reasons, the base was left at 700.
As common sense dictates, if a base of 700 is efficient, then a base of 1500 or more is certainly going to do the job better.
== What this means for security ==
As earlier mentioned, these "uncrackable passwords" are the start to a new phase in digital security. As of now, raw processing power had reached the high limits set by the traditional security model, but with the NeoSmart Security Model, the race tends to start anew, with the passwords in the lead.
The greatest obstacle at the moment is spreading the word about this security model. It relatively easy to use, but so long as it is not adopted by the community, it will most likely meet its demise.
The whitepaper highlights the expandability of such a model: it becomes possible to apply such a model to any password, prior to encryption. It can be used on any OS to protect the content of most modern software, and can be used in conjunction with the most popular encryption products of today.
== External Links ==
*[http://www.neosmart.net NeoSmart Technologies]
*PDF [http://www.neosmart.net/forums/index.php?gettopic=10 The Advent of Uncrackable Passwords]
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