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You don't need to be the victim of a state-level targeted attack. You just need to be a public figure online[0] and attract the attention of a bored hacker.

[0] https://www.theverge.com/2012/8/6/3224597/mat-honan-hacked-a...

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I'm not super familiar with the Honan story but I recall (and quick skimming seems to confirm) that it was more about lax security policies at Apple et al, the interconnectedness of social media accounts, and social engineering than it was about reversing a computed hash or human "hashing" scheme.

Did those attackers guess or compute even one password at all?

Not in this specific instance, but they could have. And that level of scrutiny would have enabled a complete digital takeover like Honan suffered if his accounts were poorly protected by a system of passwords proposed above.

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