[5] Since the key protects the confidentiality and integrity of the system, it is important to be kept secret from unauthorized parties.
Kerckhoff's principle states that the entire security of the cryptographic system relies on the secrecy of the key.
Since perfect secrecy is not feasible for key algorithms, researches are now more focused on computational security.
However, current key sizes would all be cracked quickly with a powerful quantum computer.
The problem of how to safely generate random keys is difficult and has been addressed in many ways by various cryptographic systems.
For the production of small amounts of keying material, ordinary dice provide a good source of high-quality randomness.
[13] A password is a memorized series of characters including letters, digits, and other special symbols that are used to verify identity.
It is often produced by a human user or a password management software to protect personal and sensitive information or generate cryptographic keys.
Passwords are often created to be memorized by users and may contain non-random information such as dictionary words.
A key is generated based on random or pseudo-random data and can often be unreadable to humans.
[14] A password is less safe than a cryptographic key due to its low entropy, randomness, and human-readable properties.