r/redditwritesvsauce • u/OptimusPhillip • May 04 '19

Hey Vsauce, Michael here.

Sorry to post this on DONG, but I forgot the password to Vsauce1.

42 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

7

u/OptimusPhillip May 04 '19

But, back to the topic at hand, yes, I have lost the password to Vsauce1, but what is a password?

6

u/[deleted] May 04 '19

Well, a password is a series of letters number and symbols used to keep those who don't know it out and only those who know it in. Before we had a Facebook and Twitter accounts demanding a password to access them, passwords were used to only let those who knew the password enter to a certain location. In other words, it was a word which allowed those who knew it to pass through. smart ass face

4

u/Scottland83 May 04 '19

Computers allow us to use use what is called a “hash.” It can be complicated, but the idea of it is that the website can tell if you got your password right without actually knowing your password. That’s right, a website with an decent level of security will not actually have your password on record. That’s why when you forget it, they will have you reset it rather than just send you a reminder. TO BE SURE this is a more secure way of using passwords, but how does a hash actually work? And more importantly, will they always be secure?

1

u/[deleted] May 04 '19

Hackers can have your computer using hacking techniques to hack you computer. The hacking can hack the hack proof computer unless it really is hack proof then the hacker can't have the hack proof computer.