The graphics processing unit, or video card processor, has been unleashed on the lowly password:

Using an $800 graphics card from nVidia called the GeForce 8800 Ultra, Elcomsoft increased the speed of its password cracking by a factor of 25, according to the company’s CEO, Vladimir Katalov.

The toughest passwords, including those used to log in to a Windows Vista computer, would normally take months of continuous computer processing time to crack using a computer’s central processing unit (CPU). By harnessing a $150 GPU – less powerful than the nVidia 8800 card – Elcomsoft says they can cracked in just three to five days. Less complex passwords can be retrieved in minutes, rather than hours or days.

Exciting news for the the key management and cryptography industry. Gaming consoles are even more powerful than the high-end graphics and since they are increasingly capable of sharing information over the network with each other the power increases further. The positive angle on this should be that passwords may be so hopelessly irrelevant to security that they will usher in a new generation of authentication. The negative angle is the brewing fight and power-struggle for control of identity and privacy infromation. Secrets have a nice level of anonymity that stronger authentication could diminish.