It only takes a moment to crack a simple password. But there is a way to defend yourself

2023-05-04 09:55:00

Time.news – How long does it take to crack a password? According to Security.org, a standard eight-character password can be decrypted almost instantly. Want to add 22 minutes to your cracking time? Please enter a capital letter. Want more protection? Adding a special character combined with a capital letter takes a scant hour. Worrying, right?

May 4th is World Password Day and the challenge posed by more and more treacherous hacker attacks requires ever more sophisticated countermeasures. But sometimes it is enough to use a combination of numbers, letters and special characters to slow down or even frustrate the action of the bad guys.

Unfortunately, the eight-character password isn’t as secure as it used to be. So, how long a password should be? The answer proves difficult, as industry experts have differing opinions on the length and complexity of passwords. Experts tend to agree that eight characters is a minimum and should be alphanumeric.

Research from Security.org shows that 45% of people surveyed use passwords of eight characters or fewer, but recommend longer passwords for better security.

What to do for create secure passwords? Here are the 10 tips of Acronis, a production company from cyber attacks.

1. Switch to longer passwords with at least one number, one symbol, and one capital letter.
2. Avoid common phrases, pet names, spouse names, children names, car models, etc.
3. Do not share your passwords with others.
4. Avoid reusing the same passwords across multiple sites. If one is hacked, all are hacked.
5. Do not use numbers or sequential letters (abc, 123, etc.).
6. Do not store your clear text password list on your computer.
7. Never use your e-mail password for other sites.
8. Do not add the current year to your current password.
9. Create unique passwords without using common names
10. Don’t use dictionary words, because that’s what cracking tools use.