Online Security Tips and Resources

When creating passwords, people generally care more about memorability than security. Too many people have passwords like ‘1234’ or ‘password’ or ‘iforgot’. A hacker would guess these passwords first as they are the most commonly used.

But even if your password is much more creative than ‘1234’, and even if you are clever enough to have a different password for all your different accounts, it may still be very easy for your password to be cracked if it is still too simple.

This table (taken from this article from geekbeat.tv) illustrates how long it would take for a normal computer to brute force guess passwords of different length containing different kinds of characters.

This is assuming these passwords are completely random gibberish and comprise of no recognizable dictionary words. Hackers like to accumulate large dictionaries that contain many different combinations of words and phrases that could possibly be part of a password. If any part of a password matches up with an entry in that dictionary, the rest of the password will be easier for the computer to guess and take even less time to crack.

Other ways someone might get a hold of your password are:

• Your password hint is too obvious (it's better to refrain from providing a password hint if given the option).
• You've written your password down somewhere for someone to see it.
• Your password is short enough or your keystrokes are simple enough for someone to watch you type it in and remember it.
• You login to someone else’s computer and they have some kind of keylogger that saves your password so they can login with it later.

Do your best to avoid these things. Remember, people can be sneaky. Always be wary when it comes to passwords.