{"id":9149,"date":"2017-08-21T08:49:05","date_gmt":"2017-08-20T22:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/?p=9149"},"modified":"2017-08-21T08:49:05","modified_gmt":"2017-08-20T22:49:05","slug":"how-secure-are-your-passwords-probably-not-very","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/how-secure-are-your-passwords-probably-not-very","title":{"rendered":"How Secure Are Your Passwords? Probably Not Very."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Man-giving-thumb-down\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Using numbers and symbols in your passwords to keep them secure? You’re doing it wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chances are, all you’re doing is making it harder for you to remember – and super easy for a computer to guess.<\/p>\n

Here’s some password protection myths blown right open, and what you should actually do to make them secure.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\"main-qimg-831083c0828c3cb49f7978642119137e\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

Myth:<\/strong>\u00a0Short passwords with substitutions are secure.<\/h3>\n

Fact: <\/strong>They take seconds<\/em> to crack.<\/h3>\n

Complexity does not beat length. Most people were taught to make passwords with common substitutions in them (E.g. @ or 4 instead of A, 0\u00a0instead of O).<\/p>\n

However, machines have already figured out this very simple trick. You may think that ”b@by24” is a completely secure password, but a password-cracking program literally takes 400 milliseconds – that’s 0.4 of a second – to crack it.<\/p>\n

Using random letters to make your password more complex doesn’t help much, either. For example, the password\u00a0‘krf@ro20’ can be cracked in 51 seconds with the Conficker botnet.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the password ‘eatingsometacosfordinner’ would take over 10000 centuries with a modern computer,\u00a0two centuries with a botnet, and if you managed to hijack the world’s fastest supercomputer, you could crack it in two years of dedicated processing time.<\/p>\n

In short, those numbers and letters aren’t the impenetrable password shield you think they are. While they’re not useless<\/em>, you’re better off having a long password without substitutions\u00a0than a short password with them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"password_strength\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Myth:<\/strong>\u00a0Big companies will encrypt my password in case their servers are hacked.<\/h3>\n

Fact:<\/strong>\u00a050% of big companies don’t encrypt your password at all.<\/h3>\n

You can’t rely on big companies to encrypt your password – half of them store your password as plain text. That means if someone hacks into their servers, they can simply read the passwords.<\/p>\n

On the downside, this means no matter how good your password is, it won’t stop anyone who can just read it. On the upside, there is a method to protect yourself against this.<\/p>\n

Create a unique password for each big site. This way, if someone compromises your Facebook account, they don’t also have the same password to your banking account.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"plaintext-password-database\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Myth:<\/strong>\u00a0Password checkers ensure strong passwords.<\/h3>\n

Fact:<\/strong>\u00a0Not all password checkers are created equal.<\/h3>\n

When you create a password for an account, sometimes there’s a nifty little tool that tells you if it’s weak or strong. But you shouldn’t put your faith entirely in this benchmark.<\/p>\n

All password strength checkers use custom security criteria to assess your password. This means they may be using outdated benchmarks (E.g. complexity over length) to rate your password.<\/p>\n

Many of these passwords checkers will give you top marks for adding a letter to the world’s most common passwords, such as ‘J12345678’. This is ridiculously easy to crack, but many password checkers will give this a ‘strong’ ranking because it has letters, numbers and a length of nine characters.<\/p>\n

In short, a password checker is no substitute for good practices. However, a reputable password checker can still be used to make sure your password choice does meet some benchmarks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Myth: <\/strong>Good password practices aren’t a big deal.<\/h3>\n

Fact:\u00a0<\/strong>Most major security incidents are caused by poor admin passwords.<\/h3>\n

You’ve probably heard of big companies like HBO being held to ransom for billions of dollars, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s social media accounts being hacked, or government data being stolen.<\/p>\n

In most cases like this, the cause is poor admin passwords. If a hacker has admin access to your systems, they can wreak havoc on your business. It’s simple to introduce some ransomware or another kind of virus once they’ve got a foot in the door.<\/p>\n

\n

How Do Your Passwords Hold Up?<\/h1>\n

Kaspersky offers a password checker<\/a> which is very reliable. However, never enter in your actual passwords. <\/strong>If you do use a password checker, enter in something similar to your existing password instead.\u00a0<\/strong>These sites do not store or collect your passwords, but it is best to exercise best security practices.<\/p>\n

\n

Backing Up Your Data?<\/h1>\n

If you’re backing up to the cloud, make sure you’ve got top notch software to encrypt it. Don’t count on your data provider\u00a0to do it for you!<\/p>\n

BackupAssist<\/a>\u00a0is the #1 ranked backup software for Windows Servers. \u00a0It provides military-grade encryption for your backups and protects them even\u00a0in the cloud<\/a>. Why not\u00a0download\u00a0the\u00a030-day fully featured trial<\/a>\u00a0and see what all the fuss is about?<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using numbers and symbols in your passwords to keep them secure? You’re doing it wrong. Chances are, all you’re doing is making it harder for you to remember – and super easy for a computer to guess. Here’s some password protection myths blown right open, and what you should actually do to make them secure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,23],"tags":[556,621,389],"class_list":["post-9149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interest","category-news","tag-best-practice","tag-passwords","tag-security"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Secure Are Your Passwords? Probably Not Very.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Using numbers and symbols in your passwords? You're doing it wrong. 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