Specifying a set of forbidden passwords

1. A computer program product for approving a password for a device, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium embodying program code executable by a processor of the device for implementing a password approval method, wherein the password approval method comprises:

receiving a password to approve, the password to approve comprising a character sequence;

adding a first character from said character sequence to a symbolically equivalent password along with one or more character sequence equivalents for said first character found in a list of symbolic equivalents, if any character sequence equivalents for said first character are found in the list of symbolic equivalents, where the symbolic equivalents comprise at least one of said first character alone or said first character plus any subsequent characters in the character sequence;

adding a next character from said character sequence to the symbolically equivalent password, the next character being the character immediately following the character last added to the symbolically equivalent password, along with one or more character sequence equivalents for said next character found in the list of symbolic equivalents, if any character sequence equivalents for said next character are found in the list of symbolic equivalents, where the symbolic equivalents comprise at least one of said next character alone or said next character plus any subsequent characters in the character sequence; and

repeating said adding until there are no more next characters in said character sequence;

comparing the symbolically equivalent password with a specified forbidden password; and,

disapproving the password to approve if the symbolically equivalent password corresponds to the specified forbidden password.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein each character sequence equivalent found in the list of symbolic equivalents comprises one or more characters.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the list of symbolic equivalents comprises visual symbolic equivalents.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the list of symbolic equivalents comprises phonetic symbolic equivalents.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the symbolically equivalent password corresponds to the specified forbidden password if a number of characters in the specified forbidden password that are included in the symbolically equivalent password is greater than or equal to a value specified by a length parameter.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the at least one symbolically equivalent password corresponds to the specified forbidden password if a number of characters in the specified forbidden password that are included, in order, in the symbolically equivalent password is greater than or equal to a value specified by an order parameter.

7. A method for approving a password for a computing device, wherein a processor of the computing device is configured to perform the method, and wherein the method comprises:

receiving a password to approve, the password to approve comprising a character sequence;

adding a first character from said character sequence to a symbolically equivalent password along with one or more character sequence equivalents for said first character found in a list of symbolic equivalents, if any character sequence equivalents for said first character are found in the list of symbolic equivalents, where the symbolic equivalents comprise at least one of said first character alone or said first character plus any subsequent characters in the character sequence;

adding a next character from said character sequence to the symbolically equivalent password, the next character being the character immediately following the character last added to the symbolically equivalent password, along with one or more character sequence equivalents for said next character found in the list of symbolic equivalents, if any character sequence equivalents for said next character are found in the list of symbolic equivalents, where the symbolic equivalents comprise at least one of said next character alone or said next character plus any subsequent characters in the character sequence; and

repeating said adding until there are no more next characters in said character sequence;

comparing the symbolically equivalent password with a specified forbidden password; and,

disapproving the password to approve if the symbolically equivalent password corresponds to the specified forbidden password.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising obtaining the list of symbolic equivalents from a data store.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the list of symbolic equivalents comprises at least one of: visual symbolic equivalents, phonetic symbolic equivalents, and symbols that are commonly substituted for a given character sequence.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the symbolically equivalent password corresponds to the specified forbidden password if at least one of: a number of characters in the specified forbidden password that are included in the symbolically equivalent password is greater than or equal to a value specified by a length parameter, and a number of characters in the specified forbidden password that are included in symbolically equivalent password, in order, is greater than or equal to an order parameter.

11. A communications device comprising:

a main processor that controls the operation of the communications device; and

a communication subsystem connected to the main processor, the communication subsystem sends and receives data;

wherein the main processor is configured to approve a password for the communication device by:

receiving a password to approve, the password to approve comprising a character sequence;

adding a first character from said character sequence to a symbolically equivalent password along with one or more character sequence equivalents for said first character found in a list of symbolic equivalents, if any character sequence equivalents for said first character are found in the list of symbolic equivalents, where the symbolic equivalents comprise at least one of said first character alone or said first character plus any subsequent characters in the character sequence;

adding a next character from said character sequence to the symbolically equivalent password, the next character being the character immediately following the character last added to the symbolically equivalent password, along with one or more character sequence equivalents for said next character found in the list of symbolic equivalents, if any character sequence equivalents for said next character are found in the list of symbolic equivalents, where the symbolic equivalents comprise at least one of said next character alone or said next character plus any subsequent characters in the character sequence; and

repeating said adding until there are no more next characters in said character sequence;

comparing the symbolically equivalent password with a specified forbidden password; and,

disapproving the password to approve if the symbolically equivalent password corresponds to the specified forbidden password.

12. The communication device of claim 11 , wherein the list of symbolic equivalents comprises at least one of: visual symbolic equivalents, phonetic symbolic equivalents, and symbols that are commonly substituted for a given character sequence.

13. The communication device of claim 11 , wherein the password approval module determines that the symbolically equivalent password corresponds to the specified forbidden password if at least one of: a number of characters in the specified forbidden password that are included in the symbolically equivalent password is greater than or equal to a value specified by a length parameter, and a number of characters in the specified forbidden password that are included in the symbolically equivalent password, in order, is greater than or equal to an order parameter.

14. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein said comparing comprises:

selecting one forbidden password as the specified forbidden password from a set of one or more forbidden passwords, the selected forbidden password comprising a disallowed character sequence;

determining if the disallowed character sequence appears in the same order in the symbolically equivalent password, where there may be zero or more characters between each symbolically equivalent password character matching the disallowed character sequence;

disapproving the password to approve if the disallowed character sequence does appear; and

selecting a next forbidden password as the specified forbidden password from the set of one or more forbidden passwords, and repeating said determining for the next forbidden password until either there are no more next forbidden passwords in the set, or, the password to approve has been disapproved.

15. The method of claim 7 , wherein said comparing comprises:

selecting one forbidden password as the specified forbidden password from a set of one or more forbidden passwords, the selected forbidden password comprising a disallowed character sequence;

determining if the disallowed character sequence appears in the same order in the symbolically equivalent password, where there may be zero or more characters between each symbolically equivalent password character matching the disallowed character sequence;

disapproving the password to approve if the disallowed character sequence does appear; and

selecting a next forbidden password as the specified forbidden password from the set of one or more forbidden passwords, and repeating said determining for the next forbidden password until either there are no more next forbidden passwords in the set, or, the password to approve has been disapproved.

16. The communication device of claim 11 , wherein said comparing comprises:

selecting one forbidden password as the specified forbidden password from a set of one or more forbidden passwords, the selected forbidden password comprising a disallowed character sequence;

determining if the disallowed character sequence appears in the same order in the symbolically equivalent password, where there may be zero or more characters between each symbolically equivalent password character matching the disallowed character sequence;

disapproving the password to approve if the disallowed character sequence does appear; and

selecting a next forbidden password as the specified forbidden password from the set of one or more forbidden passwords, and repeating said determining for the next forbidden password until either there are no more next forbidden passwords in the set, or, the password to approve has been disapproved.