Self-study
Conclusion Requiring that passwords conform to rules of length, complexity, and unpredictability increases the likelihood of someone gaining unauthorized access to a user's account. █████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ █████████████ ██████ █████ █ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████████ ████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ █ █████████ ████████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ███ ██ ████ ██ █████████ █████ █████ █████ ████ █████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that making people use long, complex, unpredictable passwords actually increases the chances their accounts are hacked. Why? Because it’s hard to access an account by guessing a password anyway, and complex passwords are more difficult to remember, meaning people usually write them down.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes the risk of a written password being stolen is greater than the risk of a non-complex password being guessed. This means assuming people are more likely to write down a complex password, and that writing down a password increases the chances a person’s account is accessed without authorization.
3.
The overall conclusion of the ████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
a
People who use ████████ ███████ ██ ████ ████████ █████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ████████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ██████████████
This doesn’t change the fact that people often write down complex passwords. It offers a method people can use to avoid writing their passwords down, but it doesn’t say that method is widespread.
b
User accounts that ███ █████████████ ██████ █████ █ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████ █████ █ ██████████ █████
This doesn’t mean passwords are easy to guess. It doesn’t say a locked account is unlocked quickly enough to allow passwords to be at risk from repeated guessing.
c
When a password ██ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████
This makes concrete the author’s assumption that a person’s account is more likely to be accessed without authorization if they write their password down. It confirms that the stated disadvantage of complex passwords—people tend to write them down—really is a disadvantage.
d
When users who ██████ █████ █████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ █ ███████████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ █████████
This is irrelevant. It implies users are motivated to remember their passwords, but it doesn’t say users are more likely to write down complex passwords than non-complex passwords.
e
Passwords that conform ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ███ ████████████████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██████
This doesn’t affect the argument. The author says it’s hard to access an account by guessing a password—complex or not. This isn’t an additional disadvantage of complex passwords.