A weak password is still one of the most common ways hackers break in.
Thanks to sophisticated brute-force-attack software readily available online, hackers can try tens of millions of possible password combinations per second. For example, hacking software can guess a seven-character password in under an hour. If you only use lowercase letters, it’s 2 seconds.
You KNOW you need to have a better password than “password” or “letmein” if you have any hope of keeping hackers out of your PC, but what does a “strong” password mean?
A good password should be at least eight characters long (or longer!) and have a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols that are hard to guess.
Don’t use dictionary words with proper capitalization because they’re easy to guess (like Password123#). Even though it meets the requirements we just discussed, it’s easily hacked; remember, hackers have sophisticated password-hacking software that will run 24/7/365.
If you have concerns about your passwords or network security, Stratti is ready to help. We will perform a free cyber security audit and network assessment to identify areas of vulnerability in your network. Call us at (530) 342-8999.
