Patent ID: 8140867

Claim:
A device comprising: a processor, and at least one physical memory component; wherein the processor is configured to: receive a password to approve, the password to approve comprising a character sequence; execute a password approval method, wherein the processor is configured to: for each selected character of at least one character in the character sequence: add the selected character from the character sequence to each of one or more symbolically equivalent passwords; and for each character sequence equivalent associated with the selected character found in the list of symbolic equivalents, add the character sequence equivalent to at least one of the one or more symbolically equivalent passwords, wherein the character sequence equivalent is associated with the selected character if a corresponding symbolic equivalent in the list consists of the selected character alone or the selected character plus one or more subsequent characters in the character sequence; compare each of the one or more symbolically equivalent passwords with a specified forbidden password; and disapprove the password to approve if any one of the one or more symbolically equivalent passwords corresponds to the specified forbidden password.