A COMMON password myth could be leaving your online accounts exposed.
Security experts are urging all gadget owners to check their account passwords to make sure they’re not falling foul of a key rule.
It’s linked to the length of your passwords – it may be far too short to stay from being “cracked”.
That’s when crooks use apps to guess endless combinations of log-ins to try to break in.
“In 2024, a strong password is a long and complex password,” explained Ashley D’Andrea, of Keeper Security.
“In the past, a strong password was considered strong if it contained 12 characters.
“However, the standards have now changed to recommend a strong password be at least 16 characters long.”
The difference in how long it takes a password to be cracked based on length can be staggering.
A 2023 report from Oberlin College revealed how a password of numbers only could be cracked “instantly” if it contained fewer than 12 characters.
Meanwhile a 16-number password would take an hour to crack.
A password of lowercase letters might take a hacker 14 hours to crack with 12 characters.
But this rises to 713 years with 16 characters.
But character length isn’t the only issue.
“Not only should your password be 16 characters long to be strong, but you should also include a variation of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters to make it complex,” Ashley explained.
The same cracking report from above says that while a 12-character password with numbers, upper and lowercase letters, and symbols takes 226 years to crack – it would take five billion years to break into a 16-character equivalent.
Here's what you should be trying...
Similarly, don’t re-use passwords or you make a hacker’s life much easier.
Secondly, it’s important to make sure you’re not putting anything silly in your password.
“A great way to make sure you have a strong password in 2024 is by avoiding the use of common words or phrases as well as any personal information,” Ashley said.
“For example, imagine your pet’s name is Buddy and you decide to add your birthdate to your password to make it Buddy1387.
Here are some important tricks to follow, as revealed by Keeper Security…
“A cybercriminal can use publicly available information, such as your social media profiles, to gather this information about you and your pet from your online accounts, then use that to gain access to them.”
And thirdly, don’t let your account’s safety rely entirely on a good password.
Turn on two-factor authentication so you need another piece of info to log in – like a code sent via text, or through an authenticator.
And if your account has the option to use Passkeys (which can’t be leaked) then turn those on too.
