why is a password that uses numbers and letters stronger than one with only letters? the attackers don’t know that you didn’t use numbers, so they must include numbers in their brute force either way.

Question

why is a password that uses numbers and letters stronger than one with only letters? the attackers don’t know that you didn’t use numbers, so they must include numbers in their brute force either way.

In: 7568

Answer 1

It’s stronger because it forces them start with a larger dataset to narrow down from.

That said, the easiest way to make a password stronger is length, not complexity.

This is a good explanation: https://xkcd.com/936/

(KXCD Password Strength; correcthorsebatterystaple)

Edit: for more details, try this… https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/936:_Password_Strength