zxcvbn: How Dropbox's Password Strength Library Works
A deep dive into zxcvbn's pattern matching, scoring, and why it catches weak passwords that simple entropy checks miss.
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Tags: security, passwords, algorithms
zxcvbn: Dropbox's Password Strength Estimator Explained In 2012, Dan Wheeler at Dropbox published zxcvbn (pronounced "zyx-ee-vun"), a password strength estimator that took a fundamentally different approach from the rule-based meters that came before it. Instead of awarding points for character types, it models how an attacker would actually approach cracking your password and estimates the number of guesses needed. Seven years later, zxcvbn remains the gold standard for client-side password strength estimation. Here's why, and how it works. The Core Insight: Think Like a Cracker Rule-based meters ask: "Does this password satisfy our rules?" Zxcvbn asks: "How many guesses would an attacker need to crack this?" The difference seems subtle but has dramatic consequences. A rule-based meter…
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