Logical Reasoning

PT152 · S4 · Q20 Coming up with secure passwords

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Coming up with secure passwords for confidential computer files is difficult.

Statements

Coming up with good secure passwords is hard.

If it's easy to remember (like a birth date or relatives' name), then it's easier to for a hacker to guess.

If it's harder for a hacker to guess (like a random configuration of letters and numbers), then it's more likely that the user will either write the password down (which is the biggest security threat of all) or forget their password and use up the system admin's time by asking them to help them with their forgotten password.

Evaluate

It's hard to find any specific Conditional / Causal / Math-y / Pivot clues to guess where this is headed.

They seem to be presenting some considerations to back up that first thought, that coming up with a secure password is difficult, and then all the other considerations seem to be Weighing Tradeoffs.

Too easy -> this bad thing Complex + write down -> this bad thing Complex + write down -> other bad thing

Goal

Since there isn't any clear momentum to combine certain claims, we'll just have to judge the answers as they come.

Let's be wary of stuff that sounds Too Strong/Specific, sounds like an Unknown Comparison, or sounds Unmentioned.

20.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true?

Computer users should not write
Too Strong: should not
If we were doing Most Supported, this answer would seem worth considering. It's supportable. But it's not must be true "derivable" from the statements, since none of the statements used should language. We know that writing down passwords poses the greatest security threat of all, but we don't have a mechanism for deriving that "you should not do whatever action poses the greatest security threat of all".
21% picked this
It is expensive to have
Out of Scope: expensive
This is also plausible and supported, but it's not a must be true we can derive from the paragraph because the statements don't mention anything about the cost of system administrator's time spent helping users reset their passwords.
2% picked this
Correct
Passwords that are very easy
Why this is right
We can practically derive this comparison because we were told that writing down a password poses the greatest security threat of all. So if you're not writing down a password, then you're posing less of a security threat than is someone who is writing down their password. Do we know whether or not people who make passwords that are very easy to guess are writing down their passwords? We don't really. This is either sloppiness on the part of LSAC (even though it's "must be true", we seem to be picking the "most supported" answer), or they think that the final two claims allows us to infer something about the frequency with which people who create easy vs. difficult passwords are writing those passwords down. The final two claims are saying, "most passwords that are very difficult are written down (generally = most), and hence pose the greatest security threat of all." If most passwords that are very easy to guess are also written down, then it would be weird to say that when the difficult-password people write theirs down, they have hence posed the greatest security threat of all. How could it be the greatest threat if the easy-password people are also writing theirs down? I think this case I'm making for them is pretty weak, and that more likely they just didn't care that their correct answer on Must Be True is still a little loose. It at least feels like the most provable, most supportable answer available.
Skill tested: Must be True · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
64% picked this
Passwords that are random configurations
Too Strong: least likely
The information defines the greatest security threat, but it never defines the least likely security threat. Even though random and complex passwords are the hardest to guess, that doesn't mean they're the least likely to result in security breaches since they often result in people writing down their password, which is the greatest security threat of all.
11% picked this
The easier a password is
Too Strong
Too Strong: the more x, the more y The paragraph told us that easy to remember passwords are the easiest for an outside to guess. That, on its face, goes against what this answer is saying.
2% picked this

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