可在安全的系统中使用密码来向用户授权。但是，密码必须难于被未授权用户猜测出来。攻击者可以使用一种“字典攻击”程序，该程序将遍历一本字典（或不同语言的多本字典）中的所有单词，并测试是否有任何单词就是用户的密码。诸如“Yankees”或“Mustang”等弱密码可被很快猜测出来。诸如“?You'L1N3vaFiNdMeyeP@sSWerd!”等强密码被猜测出来的可能性要小很多。密码保护系统应确保用户选择强密码。
强密码很复杂（包含大写、小写、数字和特殊字符的组合），并且不是单词。此示例演示如何验证复杂性。
示例
''' <summary>Determines if a password is sufficiently complex.</summary>
''' <param name="pwd">Password to validate</param>
''' <param name="minLength">Minimum number of password characters.</param>
''' <param name="numUpper">Minimum number of uppercase characters.</param>
''' <param name="numLower">Minimum number of lowercase characters.</param>
''' <param name="numNumbers">Minimum number of numeric characters.</param>
''' <param name="numSpecial">Minimum number of special characters.</param>
''' <returns>True if the password is sufficiently complex.</returns>
Function ValidatePassword(ByVal pwd As String, _
Optional ByVal minLength As Integer = 8, _
Optional ByVal numUpper As Integer = 2, _
Optional ByVal numLower As Integer = 2, _
Optional ByVal numNumbers As Integer = 2, _
Optional ByVal numSpecial As Integer = 2) _
As Boolean
' Replace [A-Z] with \p{Lu}, to allow for Unicode uppercase letters.
Dim upper As New System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex("[A-Z]")
Dim lower As New System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex("[a-z]")
Dim number As New System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex("[0-9]")
' Special is "none of the above".
Dim special As New System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex("[^a-zA-Z0-9]")
' Check the length.
If Len(pwd) < minLength Then Return False
' Check for minimum number of occurrences.
If upper.Matches(pwd).Count < numUpper Then Return False
If lower.Matches(pwd).Count < numLower Then Return False
If number.Matches(pwd).Count < numNumbers Then Return False
If special.Matches(pwd).Count < numSpecial Then Return False
' Passed all checks.
Return True
End Function
Sub TestValidatePassword()
Dim password As String = "Password"
' Demonstrate that "Password" is not complex.
MsgBox(password & " is complex: " & ValidatePassword(password))
password = "Z9f%a>2kQ"
' Demonstrate that "Z9f%a>2kQ" is not complex.
MsgBox(password & " is complex: " & ValidatePassword(password))
End Sub
访问 System.Text.RegularExpressions 命名空间的成员。如果没有在代码中完全限定成员名称，请添加 Imports 语句。有关更多信息，请参见 Imports 语句（.NET 命名空间和类型）。
依据用户的名称、用户标识符和应用程序定义的字典来比较密码及其子字符串。此外，在执行比较时，将看起来类似的字符视为相同字符。例如，将字母“l”和“e”视为与数字“1”和“3”相同的字符。
