PrepTest 152, Section 2, Question 3
Requiring that passwords conform to rules of length,(55 more words not shown)
The overall conclusion of the(12 more words not shown)
- APeople who use(19 more words not shown)
- BUser accounts that(18 more words not shown)
- CWhen a password(24 more words not shown)
- DWhen users who(25 more words not shown)
- EPasswords that conform(21 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Wouldn't a complicated password make an account harder to break into?
That is my first reaction, but I can imagine a way the rule backfires. Suppose a password is so hard to remember that its owner writes it on a sticky note. Someone who finds the note doesn't have to guess anything. The extra difficulty remembering the password could create a different way into the account.
The passage develops that explanation: accounts usually lock after several wrong guesses, while users often write down complex passwords. That makes the opening claim less surprising.
What we’re looking for
I'd still wonder about very easy guesses. What if a password is a pet's name and someone gets it within the allowed attempts? For a strengthener, my first thought would be evidence that guessing is indeed very difficult, so the apparent advantage of a complex password doesn't outweigh the problem the author identifies.
Working the answers
- A
Memory aids could help some people avoid writing passwords down. That doesn't strengthen the claim that complexity rules increase unauthorized access; it offers a possible way to avoid the proposed problem. We also aren't told that the users who write passwords down use these aids.
- B
Unlocking an account later might give someone another opportunity to guess, but B doesn't connect complexity requirements to an increased chance of unauthorized access. It describes the lockout procedure without supplying the reason the stricter password rules are supposedly less secure.
- CCorrect
This supports a connection I was already picturing in the sticky-note example: writing a password down increases the chance that someone else can use it. The argument hasn't explicitly supplied that connection until now.
The steps fit together. Complexity makes passwords harder to remember; users respond by writing them down; the written record increases the chance of unauthorized access. Finding the note lets someone use the actual password rather than struggle through guesses. C supports that route directly, instead of answering my separate question about easy guesses.
- D
A complicated recovery process is inconvenient for the account's owner. That doesn't show the account is easier for someone else to enter. The conclusion concerns unauthorized access, not the time or effort an authorized user spends regaining access after forgetting a password.
- E
This removes a possible advantage of complex passwords: they aren't harder to guess. But it doesn't supply the additional risk the argument attributes to writing them down. We need support for an increase in unauthorized access, not merely the absence of improved resistance to guessing. C explains how the requirements could create that extra vulnerability.
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