Crack the Password Code: Steps to create strong password

It is the age of digital transformation. It is also the age of pervasive, pervading ignorance.  Despite phishing, ransomware and crypto-jacking ranking among the top cybersecurity threats, people don’t take password security seriously. Widely popular is ‘password’, chosen by close to five million users, according to password manager company NordPass. Others are 123456, abcde and ABC123.

The word ‘samsung’ was among the most used passwords in at least 30 countries in 2021, followed by adidas, nike and tiffany.     

Cause for worry Recent statistics by Dataprot, a software solutions company which works in cybersecurity, suggest that despite knowing that a weak password allows cybercriminals to easily hijack an account, 90 per cent of internet users still don't seem to care. What’s worse, 57 per cent of users whose accounts were hacked hadn’t bothered to change their passwords.

Deepak Narang, a cybersecurity specialist based in Gurugram, says, “With the rapid digitalisation of the world, it’s challenging for people, especially seniors, to remember the volume of passwords one has to set. Log-in complications add to the frustration, while some people set no-brainer passwords from sheer laziness.” But then there is safety in numbers (and letters).

Password-protected for 300 years According to research, a simple password (comprising only letters and numbers) made of four to 11 characters can be hacked instantly. Add to that just one more character and it can take two seconds to crack, while one with 13 characters can take 19 seconds.

Now throw in some uppercase, but your password is still not safe enough; if a password combining uppercase, lowercase and numbers is made of just four or six characters, it’ll take a cyberpunk no more than a couple of seconds, while one with seven characters will take seven seconds.

That brings us to what makes for the safest passwords. A combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols makes for the best security block. “One created with a clever juggling of seven to 10 characters—keeping the above in mind—may take a hacker up to five months to break into, while one with 11 characters may take about 34 years. For the ultimate digital security, create one with 12 characters and add  300 years to your safety net,” says Narang.

SET IT RIGHT
The next time you’re setting a password, add length to it, throw in a mix of letters, numbers and a few symbols, and absolutely no inclusion of birth or anniversary dates, memorable keyboard paths or personal information