Canadian researchers have come up with a novel solution to the perennial problem of stupidly insecure passwords--<A HREF="http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=102356">create secure ones using images, MP3 files or videos.</A> Mohammad Mannan and P.C. van Oorschot of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, have come up with ObPwd (object-based password), a way of creating complex, random passwords from SHA-1-based hashes generated using a range of image and sound file types as input.

Instead of using the easy-to-guess name of a pet cat as the password, the user could use a picture of the same animal to generate something sophisticated enough to withstand even the best password cracking tools. Getting round the technology would mean having to have access to the specific image or file from which the password was generated.