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How Fast Can A Cybercriminal Crack Your Password?

March 25, 2021

Research from NordPass, a password management firm, found that 73 percent of the 200 most popular passwords in 2020 can be hacked in less than a second.

Unfortunately, millions of people still use weak passwords, which leaves them vulnerable to "brute-force" password attacks. This type of attack is an automated method of guessing your password by checking it against popular passwords and known personal information like your name, address, favorite sports/teams or pet names.

Cybercriminals have become proficient in translating Leetspeak, which replaces English letters with similar-looking numbers and symbols. They also can locate any of your accounts that have been breached in the past and use those passwords to access other accounts. For this reason, it is essential that users assign a different password for each of their accounts.

A strong password that is difficult to crack will be unique, lengthy, and contain letters, numbers, and special characters. Users can further strengthen account security by utilizing multi-factor authentication. "Report: Majority of passwords can be cracked in a second" www.technologydecisions.com (Jan. 22, 2021).

Commentary

Along with creating unique passwords, it is important to make the passwords strong through complexity. Research shows that a 10-character password of all lower-case letters can be cracked in just over three months. A 10-character password that includes a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters will take over three millennia to crack.

Reusing the same password is a common mistake and key security risk.

Consider using password management software that will assign and store strong passwords.

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