I've been noticing that my API keys are ridiculously long—sometimes longer than a modern novel! I'm curious, does having a key that's over 50 or even 100 characters really make it uncrackable, even with advanced tech like quantum computers? Or is there more to the length of an API key that I might not be understanding?
4 Answers
The longer the key, the more secure it can be, but the type of key matters too. However, the real thing is that you usually don't type these keys; you just copy and paste them, so having a long key isn't an issue.
A lot of API keys hold more data than just being an opaque string. For instance, if yours starts with "ey..", it's likely a JWT, which contains information like your identity and is cryptographically signed. You can check out jwt.io for more info on that.
API keys are not meant to be short like passwords since they aren't typed in manually. They often contain various data encoded within them, like user IDs and access rights, which need to be protected with robust encryption.
Think of it this way: some API keys provide access to really valuable resources, like expensive compute instances. Even a tiny cost to secure all that is worth it! The long keys help make sure no one can easily hijack your access.
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