Tunnussana

Tunnussana is a Finnish term that translates to "password" or "passphrase" in English. It denotes a secret string of characters used to verify a user's identity and grant access to systems, accounts, devices or encrypted data. Tunnussana can be a single word, a combination of words, or a character sequence chosen to be memorable for the user while remaining difficult for others to guess.

In computing and information security, tunnussana functions as one factor in authentication. Strong tunnussanat are typically longer, include varied character types, and avoid common words or predictable patterns. Passphrases—sequences of multiple words—are often recommended because they can be both memorable and high in entropy. For protection, tunnussanat should be stored hashed and salted rather than in plain text, and transmitted only over secure channels.

Common threats to tunnussanat include brute-force and dictionary attacks, phishing, credential stuffing, keylogging, and social engineering. Mitigations include rate limiting, account lockouts, multi-factor authentication, password managers to generate and store unique tunnussanat, and regular security awareness training.

The term also appears in non-technical contexts where a secret word or code is used to authenticate membership or grant access. Best practices emphasize uniqueness, sufficient length and complexity, and rapid response if a tunnussana is suspected to be compromised.