{ "model": { "rank": 3578, "code": "thing-q161157", "model_id": "vr.tr.password", "name": "password", "purpose": "Let an agent explain passwords and their role in authentication, relay security guidance from bodies such as NIST and national cyber security centres, describe attacks in general terms and defences, and decline to help obtain or crack passwords belonging to others.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.QLT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q161157/", "tier": 2, "score": 84, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "personal identification number", "safe password", "one-time password", "device PIN", "default password", "AuthInfo", "passphrase", "transaction authentication number" ], "aliasCount": 8, "merged": 8, "knownIn": 84, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q161157", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q161157", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T01:23:35Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q161157", "registryId": "vr.tr.password", "name": "password", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.QLT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q161157/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.password", "name": "password", "purpose": "Let an agent explain passwords and their role in authentication, relay security guidance from bodies such as NIST and national cyber security centres, describe attacks in general terms and defences, and decline to help obtain or crack passwords belonging to others.", "definition": "A secret string of characters used to authenticate a user to a system, service or device, including numeric personal identification numbers, device PINs, one-time passwords generated for a single use, default passwords set by manufacturers, and transfer authorisation codes such as domain AuthInfo codes; passwords are the most common authentication factor, are protected by hashing and policy, are attacked by guessing, phishing and breaches, and are increasingly supplemented or replaced by multi-factor authentication and passkeys.", "what_it_is_for": "Authenticating identity to systems.", "affordances": [ "explain the concept and kinds", "relay security guidance", "describe threats and defences in general terms", "route to password managers and MFA" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Shared secret", "Knowledge factor", "Strength depends on length and unpredictability", "Vulnerable to reuse and phishing" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; a secret string entered into a login field.", "visual_identification": [ "Secret string for authentication", "Passwords, PINs, one-time passwords, default passwords, AuthInfo codes", "Usernames are public identifiers; biometrics and hardware keys are other factors; passkeys replace passwords" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "user-chosen passwords and passphrases", "personal identification numbers and device PINs", "one-time passwords and time-based codes", "default and initial passwords", "authorisation codes such as domain AuthInfo", "system-generated and manager-stored passwords" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "shared secret", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "personal data", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "string", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is used in", "target": "authentication", "why": "as a knowledge factor" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "NIST SP 800-63B digital identity guidelines", "National cyber security centre password guidance", "Laws banning default passwords on consumer devices such as the UK PSTI Act", "Data protection rules on credential storage" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Weak and reused passwords", "Phishing and credential breaches", "Default passwords left unchanged", "Agents assisting unauthorised access" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a password is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition and kinds.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a password, and what kinds of password-like secrets exist?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the user seeking to access an account that is not theirs, which the model refuses, or general information?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "strength", "name": "Strength", "description": "Strength and choice.", "findings": [ { "id": "strength-finding", "name": "Strength", "description": "Strength.", "questions": [ { "text": "What makes a password strong, and what do current guidelines recommend?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits password strength?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "protect", "name": "Protect", "description": "Protection and management.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "guidance", "name": "Guidance", "description": "Guidance.", "findings": [ { "id": "guidance-finding", "name": "Guidance", "description": "Guidance.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do NIST and national bodies advise on password policy, storage and rotation?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "tools", "name": "Tools", "description": "Managers and MFA.", "findings": [ { "id": "tools-finding", "name": "Tools", "description": "Tools.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do password managers, multi-factor authentication and passkeys reduce risk?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits password manager?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "threats", "name": "Threats", "description": "Threats.", "rationale": "Security.", "layers": [ { "id": "attacks", "name": "Attacks", "description": "Attacks in general terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "attacks-finding", "name": "Attacks", "description": "Attacks.", "questions": [ { "text": "What kinds of attack target passwords, and how are they defended against, in general terms?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation free of operational attack detail?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "breaches", "name": "Breaches", "description": "Breaches and response.", "findings": [ { "id": "breaches-finding", "name": "Breaches", "description": "Breaches.", "questions": [ { "text": "What should people do after a breach, and how do breach notification services work?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Systems and history.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "systems", "name": "Systems", "description": "Storage and hashing.", "findings": [ { "id": "systems-finding", "name": "Systems", "description": "Systems.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do systems store passwords securely with hashing and salting?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits password hashing?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History and future.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did computer passwords develop, and how are passkeys changing authentication?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits passkey?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should one-time password and passkey be separate entries?", "How should security guidance be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming specific credential types; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a password, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain passwords and their role in authentication, relay security guidance from bodies such as NIST and national cyber security centres, describe attacks in general terms and defences, and decline to help obtain or crack passwords belonging to others.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: personal identification number, safe password, one-time password, device PIN, default password, AuthInfo, passphrase, transaction authentication number.", "8 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 84 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a password, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "personal identification number", "safe password", "one-time password", "device PIN", "default password", "AuthInfo", "passphrase", "transaction authentication number" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 84 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 8 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one password from another, and a password from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a password, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a password, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a password is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a password, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a password, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a password is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a password sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a password, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a password, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a password is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a password from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a password, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a password, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a password is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a password passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a password between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a password, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a password, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a password is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a password, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a password is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a password, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a password, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a password is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What password is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of password are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is password operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of password and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of password?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as password?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a password came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a password and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a password, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a password, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a password is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a password is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a password, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a password, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a password is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }