Originally Posted By: artie505
I don't think the number of dots is indicative.

I've run across any number of instances in which the number of dots I've seen has had nothing to do with the number of characters in my password; I imagine that it's a "diversionary" tactic to throw off potential bad guys.

You are absolutely correct! The number of dots Apple shows in the password field has ALWAYS lied since the first OS X public beta and maybe even before then. I remember a fair amount of comment/complaint about this on MacFixIt about this back in the day.

The idea is to prevent someone lurking over your shoulder when you are entering the password and getting the correct number of characters, thus making guessing the password that much easier. With today's brute force password attacks it probably doesn't reduce the risk that much, but every little bit helps.


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