Method and apparatus for verification of passwords

Abstract From the Canadian patent

Abstract of the Disclosure, Methods and apparatus for verifying the acceptability of a password proposed by a user of a secure system. The system stores a compressed version of a group of unacceptable passwords in a table of indicators. A mapper assigns indicators to passwords such that more than, one password may be mapped to a indicator. To initialize the system, an initializer applies the mapper to each unacceptable password of the group, and sets the indicators of the table that are assigned to each unacceptable password. Subsequently, a verifier applies the mapper to a proposed password and checks whether the indicator assigned to the proposed password is set. If the indicator is not …