Acronis shared 10 key ways to stay safe by creating secure passwords for all accounts. In the past, the days of using passwords created by adding a pet name, a nickname, followed by a mandatory exclamation point or capital letter, have been replaced by technological developments where programs can crack easy passwords in minutes or even seconds. In the growing cyber threat landscape, experts are working to raise awareness so that everyone, from IT professionals to individual users, stays as secure as possible without sacrificing too much time and resources.
Are 8-character passwords secure?
According to research at Security.org, a standard 8-character password can be cracked almost instantly. Adding a capital letter extends the password cracking time by 22 minutes, while adding another special character with a capital letter takes an hour at most. Nowadays, an 8-character password is not as secure as it used to be. It's important to protect passwords while at the same time making it harder for malicious people to guess or crack. Passwords must be at least 8 characters and alphanumeric.
Acronis has listed 10 basic ways to create secure passwords:
- Set longer passwords with at least one number, symbol, and capital letter.
- From common phrases, pet names, spouse names, children's names, car models, etc. avoid.
- Do not share your passwords with others.
- Avoid reusing the same passwords on multiple sites, as if one is hacked, they will all be hacked.
- Do not use sequential numbers or letters such as abc and 123.
- Do not store your password list in plain text on your computer.
- Never use your email address and password combination for other sites.
- Don't just add the current year to your current password.
- Generate unique passwords without using common names.
- Do not use words found in the dictionary.