During the pandemic we’ve noticed an increase in automated attempts to break into websites and other systems. Security software can help to prevent this by blocking malicious attempts, but you should always make sure you use strong passwords. What’s more, you should use Two Factor Authentication (2FA) where available.
We all know about strong passwords, they should be 8 or more characters and contain numbers and symbols. However, these can be very difficult to remember, especially when you’ve had to change it so many times. One alternative to this which can be easier to remember, is to turn your password into a passphrase. For example, the phrase ‘I went to Las Vegas in 2006’. This is the equivalent of a 28 letter password and is so much easier to remember!
“Isn’t that really weak?”, I hear you say, but remember that the automated attacker has no idea where the spaces are in the password. This means it’s impossible for it to detect where words start and end. Ultimately that means that having a long password or passphrase can make you far more secure than having a short one. That is to say, even one with some symbols or numbers in it.
Here are some examples to illustrate this :-
- Password 1 – M4rkFC96 – Cracked by a program in around 3 days.
- Passphrase 1 – My dog loves the beach. – Requires around 225 million years of computing time to crack, making it all but impossible with current technology.
- Passphrase 2 – I went to Las Vegas in 2006. – Would take more than a thousand trillion years of computing time to crack
So the next time you review your passwords, think about giving this method a try, it should make logging in a breeze.
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