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Why don't we use ALL of the Unicode Characters/Symbols in passwords?

0
Medium
Published: 09/28/2026 (09/28/2026, 12:25:39 UTC)
Source: Reddit Cybersecurity

Description

This content discusses the potential security benefits of using the full range of Unicode characters and symbols in passwords. It highlights that incorporating a vast set of Unicode characters, including emojis and ancient scripts, could significantly increase password complexity and resistance to brute-force attacks. The discussion is speculative and focuses on future-proofing password security rather than describing a specific vulnerability or exploit.

Reddit Discussion

r/cybersecurity·posted by u/ThoughtDear7015
00

This sounds stupid at first, you could never memorize your passwords, until you use password managers. I don't think anyone with a password manager memorizes their passwords anyways, so why not make it the absolute hardest password to guess?

(By unicode characters and symbols, i mean everything listed here https://symbl.cc/en/unicode-table/ )

But seriously think about it for a sec, even just 3 unrelated unicode characters would be insanely hard to crack. Imagine 20 character strings of this shit. And plus, not only does it make YOUR OWN password unimaginably hard to crack, it also makes everyone else's passwords unimaginably hard to crack

(As now cybercriminals have to account for an absurd amount of extra characters, so generating guesses over and over would never work, and if they limit themselves to just the latin characters and numbers for generating guesses to speed it up, they'll never get your password or any password that contains any other unicode character.)

I think this would mess with encryption a little bit, but with the level of security this offers it is 100% worth it. On no online calculator I found could 2 to the power of 170,000 even be calculated. AFAIK this means just TWO CHARACTERS of this password would be absolutely baffling to even guess. I might be wrong, I'm no mathematician, but even if I am, guessing a 20 character password with latin letters, numbers, and special characters is already hard enough. Now add like 170,000 extra characters.

This would completely eliminate any threat of brute force attacks mind you, AFAIK if this was applied then the only way to get someone's password is to dig through servers that have the password or just find their computer unlocked and unsupervised.

Also, I know what you're probably gonna say, "It's not necessary" or "It's overkill" or even "A (x) character password with regular ol' letters, numerals, and special characters is more than enough". And while you're 100% right, I'm trying to consider the future. Think about how fast technology has evolved these past few decades, a sever the size of a fucking room is outbest by a micro ssd smaller than your fingertip AND IT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE! Who knows what cybercriminal tech could be bullshitted up in a decade or two?

I'm not really sure how to end this text since i've already talked about every pro about this soo...

Links cited in this discussion

AI-Powered Analysis

Machine-generated threat intelligence

AILast updated: 09/28/2026, 13:17:55 UTC

Technical Analysis

The discussion centers on the idea that using all Unicode characters available in Unicode 18.0 (over 170,000 characters) in passwords could drastically increase the password space, making brute-force attacks computationally infeasible. It notes that password managers facilitate the use of such complex passwords, and that the expanded character set would force attackers to consider a much larger set of possible characters when guessing passwords. The content does not describe a specific vulnerability or exploit but rather explores a conceptual approach to enhancing password security.

Potential Impact

No direct security impact or vulnerability is described. The content suggests that using a wide range of Unicode characters in passwords could improve security by increasing password complexity and reducing the feasibility of brute-force attacks. However, it does not identify any current threat, vulnerability, or exploit. There is no indication of active exploitation or a security flaw.

Defensive Guidance

No mitigation or patch is applicable as this is not a vulnerability or threat but a conceptual discussion about password complexity. No action is required based on this content.

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Technical Details

Source Type
reddit
Subreddit
cybersecurity
Reddit Score
0
Discussion Level
minimal
Content Source
reddit_link_post
Post Type
link
Newsworthiness Assessment
{"score":27,"reasons":["external_link","established_author","very_recent"],"isNewsworthy":true}
Has External Source
true
Trusted Domain
false

Threat ID: 6aba68f7f7a7c54106b57c48

Added to database: 09/28/2026, 13:17:43 UTC

Last enriched: 09/28/2026, 13:17:55 UTC

Last updated: 09/29/2026, 02:47:42 UTC

Views: 14

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