For the past several years, Hive Systems has calculated the amount of time it would take a hacker to crack your password. They’ve just released the 2024 chart.
Take the Password Challenge! How do YOUR Passwords stand against hackers?
A strong password is your first line of defense to protect your accounts. We recommend at least a 12-character password using upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Your password should also be entirely unique from your other account passwords. If you’re worried about remembering your password or creating a stronger one, try using one of our recommended password managers.
We encourage EVERYONE to become a Human Firewall; someone who is always vigilant about the security of their surroundings, including online.
One of the main attributes of being secure is to have strong passwords. If you’re still using your dog’s name and your kid’s birthdate, you need to change them NOW!!
Password Reuse is an Epidemic
“IT’S EASIER TO USE ONE PASSWORD” is often the excuse.
59% of individuals admitted to mostly or always using the same password, despite 91% knowing it’s a security risk.
When your commonly used password is breached, other accounts are at risk of being breached.
Your UNIQUE email password
Your email password must be strong and DIFFERENT from every other password that you use. Why? Because if a hacker gets into any of your secured sites, the first thing they will want to do is change the password so you can’t get back in. How do they do that? They
request a password change – sent to your email address. If they can get into your email, they have the keys to your kingdom and can access every account that you have. Take a few minutes and change your email password now.
What’s a good password?
A “good” password is a pass PHRASE, not a dictionary word or a pet name that someone could guess.
Start with a phrase:
SardineIceCream (YUCK!)
Alter it with numbers and symbols; a good password has at least one capital letter, one lower case letter, one number and one symbol: $@rdine1ceCre@m
As you can see, this password has one Capital letter, several lower case letters, one number, and three symbols. And it is comprised of s total of 15 characters. Current Best Practices suggests at least 8. We suggest 12 – 15
According to the chart on the front page, it would take a computer about 15 BILLION years to crack this password!
Now that you have your master password, it’s time to replace all your other passwords with unique, strong passwords
As a Human Firewall, here are your Best Practices:
- Don’t use your email password for any other purpose
- If you use the service often (like your bank account), memorize a passphrase enhanced with numbers and symbols
- Get a password manager for less-used sites and have it create random combination passwords unique to each site.
- Never save your passwords in your computer browser – if your computer gets hacked, they can get into all your accounts!
- Challenge Questions: in many cases, you can find the answers to your challenge questions (What is your mother’s middle name? What street did you grow up on? ) on Facebook or other social media sites. We often see “Take this Quiz” with these very
questions! If these questions are required, make up an answer that you will remember but isn’t easily recognized. - Mom’s middle name? Channel #5 (Her favorite perfume)
- Street you grew up on? Monopoly Street
- Your best friend in High School? Pizza – There’s no one checking that your answers are true, so have fun with answers that you can remember.
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