# Generative Deep Learning Techniques for Password Generation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.05685 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.05685/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 10 Dec 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [PagPassGPT: Pattern Guided Password Guessing via Generative Pretrained Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.04886/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Password guessing approaches via deep learning have recently been investigated with significant breakthroughs in their ability to generate novel, realistic password candidates. In the present work we study a broad collection of deep learning and probabilistic based models in the light of password guessing: attention-based deep neural networks, autoencoding mechanisms and generative adversarial networks. We provide novel generative deep-learning models in terms of variational autoencoders exhibiting state-of-art sampling performance, yielding additional latent-space features such as interpolations and targeted sampling. Lastly, we perform a thorough empirical analysis in a unified controlled framework over well-known datasets (RockYou, LinkedIn, Youku, Zomato, Pwnd). Our results not only identify the most promising schemes driven by deep neural networks, but also illustrate the strengths of each approach in terms of generation variability and sample uniqueness.