“I don’t think my friends understand that, but I think it’s cool.”
Credit: Mira Modi / Diceware Passwords
Mira Modi, 11, has a job to make a little walkin’-around money—and it’s not a paper route, lemonade stand, or babysitting job. Instead she’s making random, nearly impossible-to-crack passwords. Studies show that the average person has 19 passwords for their various apps, social media profiles, and financial accounts. Modi generates six-word Diceware passwords by hand and charges $2 for each one on her website.
Diceware is an age-old but highly effective way to generate random passwords. It involves rolling six-sided dice (D&D people, you know what we’re talking about) to generate random numbers that are linked to random English words. How secure are the passwords? According to Mori’s website, “Six words may be breakable by an organization with a very large budget, such as a large country’s security agency.”
Modi learned about Diceware from her mother, the author of Dragnet Nation, who also happens to be an expert in matters of privacy. “This whole concept of making your own passwords and being super secure and stuff,” Mori said, “I don’t think my friends understand that, but I think it’s cool.”
Although Modi hasn’t made enough to pay for her college education yet (she’s sold about 30 passwords to date), her experience starting her own business is invaluable and already has her thinking about a future in technology. “I think it would be really cool to learn about digital security,” she said. “I think it would be really cool to learn more about hacking.”
(H/T ArsTechnicha)
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