Why weak passwords weaken your security – stop the blame game
When NordPass released its annual list of common passwords for 2021, that old staple of the lazy password maker, 123456, made it to the top of the list once again. If you’re shaking your head in disbelief or chuckling as you read this, take it from us: weak passwords are all too common, and they leave the door wide open to cybercriminals.
Let’s take a look at how weak passwords can weaken your security and how you can fix yours today.
weak passwords: who’s to blame?
Let’s be honest – we’ve all used easy to guess passwords before and who could blame us? They’re easy to remember!
Unfortunately, the entire cybersecurity community is blaming us. That’s because lazy passwords are also easy to crack – and when a data breach happens, who’s to blame?
Instead of making fun of average Joes like us and the passwords we choose, a better strategy for website owners is to understand the importance of a strong password and how to help users develop one.
Users will naturally chose simple or funny passwords for the sake of convenience or to save time. As a site owner, you’ll need a system that filters out weak passwords and encourages users to make theirs longer – and not necessarily more complex.
But what does a good password look like in 2022 anyway?
what makes an iron clad password?
Whenever a user creates an online account, they’ll go through a process of password creation – and somehow, the password they choose is never good enough.
We’ve all been there: either the password is too long or too short or doesn’t contain enough uppercase characters, symbols and other special characters…
A good site makes this process easy and even humorous but the site owner takes on the responsibility of putting a strong block on proceeding until such time as the user has chosen a safe password has been chosen.
Truth be told, all this hassle is for a good reason. The more unusual your password is, the more difficult it is for hackers to crack it. At least that’s what we used to think.
- Cybercriminals use a technique called brute force cracking to discover passwords.
- This basically involves trying random numbers and letters together in sequence like the wheels of a slot machine until the password is cracked. The process takes time – and the longer your password is, the more difficult it is to crack.
A short password that contains special characters isn’t necessarily going to be more effective against cybercrime in 2022.
Instead, it’s a good idea to lengthen your password as much as possible and always use the maximum amount of characters allowed by the app or website you’re using.
keep the good stuff to yourself
You’d be surprised how many data breaches, hacking attempts, and cases of fraud have taken place simply because someone wasn’t careful enough about hiding their password.
- It’s essential that you never share your password with anyone or write it down and leave it somewhere – like on your desk where people with prying eyes can see it.
- By taking a few simple measures, you can keep your password safe and effective and protect yourself from the rising threat of malware, ransomware and cyber crime in general.
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