Despite the various advice available on the Internet, there are many users who continue to suffer the theft of their personal data, which generally results in loss of moneyThere is no magic formula for a strong password, but there are some suggestions
Like many of the people whose logins were compromised, and their information stolen, you probably think that password you’re using is secure, but it isn’t. And since cyber attacks are becoming more frequent, we propose a joint review of some key aspects of passwords that can explain why an apparently reliable password is, and one that is theoretically weak is actually strong.
The first thing to consider is that hackers today use lists of words, even dictionaries, to figure out some of the most basic passwords they assume users use. Many websites and apps have password policies, but users go to great lengths to enter the easiest-to-guess passwords, making it easy for cybercriminals.
Of course, avoid passwords that would be too obviouslike 123456789 or harrystyles as long as you have a photo of your profile, and many others that could be suggested in one way or another.
In addition, we have portals such as haveibeenpwned.com, which in this link tells you if the password you use was previously hacked. Most have been, so you should at least look for one that has been hacked a few times.. With that we have to settle in these days of digital insecurity.
What is the key to a strong password then?
We could say that there is no single key to strong passwords, or that the formula doesn’t really matter. Basically, you have to focus on other aspects, such as the length and randomness of the selected password. Of course, it is better if you can mix uppercase and lowercase with special characters and numbers, but the longer, the less likely to be exploited. This is precisely what is recommended.
Put another way, 8 mixed-case characters, including numbers and signs, can often be more secure than a string of 22 easy-to-read lowercase characters.
The time required to guess the password by brute force will be exponentially longer with long passwords. And we are really talking about an abysmal difference, like the one between minutes and years.
The biggest problem is that people who are not yet aware of cyber security may have interesting but insecure approaches. For example, they may deliberately use a weak password and think that hackers will not try such trivial combinations. But they do it because, well, it’s their job.
Even good security policies can be misleading
Despite the fact that some analysts predict that passwords will no longer exist in the future, it is clear that we will still have to deal with them for many years. Certain app sites have broken password policies. Some of them push their users to very predictable strategiesfor example, banning special characters or limiting the total length to 8, and it is incredible that the authorities do nothing about it.
Does that mean that the websites that force us to place uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special characters are exempt from any possible violation of user accounts? Unfortunately not. There are numerous occasions when users and all, still manage to create easy passwords.
For example, my name is Augusto. But the password Augu5t@ is not exactly a secure one.. Indeed, it complies with all the recommendations that are given, but even so it is not safe, and it would be my fault.
Conclusions
In conclusion, you have to try to set passwords as long as possible, about 15 characters. It would also be important that you do not reuse them between different portals, or save them in your browser.
To the extent that you can, always enable two-factor authentication or 2FA authentication.
All this while some organizations use weak passwords and vulnerable applications to track down and hunt down cybercriminals. This approach is called Honeypot, and the idea is to make hackers think they are infiltrating a system when they are actually being caught by cyber security.
Share it with your friends!
