Password Vulnerabilities You Should Know About

It’s 2019 and password hacks still continue to haunt us. Especially as we keep
adding more apps on our devices and registering on various websites for shopping,
transferring money, or simply connecting with friends and family, the strength of
our passwords keeps getting diluted. It’s not just the common folks; even big
businesses are faced with password theft risks that can cost them millions in loss
and damage control.

These days, hackers/attackers find it much easier to break into accounts through
brute-force methods, due to the availability of computing power at affordable
prices. Their strategies include testing every possible combination of passwords in
super-rapid succession to find the right one. There is also a host of other easily
accessible methods that attackers use, including dictionary attack, phishing,
malware and social engineering, to name a few.

Common password vulnerabilities

One of the main reasons for attackers barging into our accounts is our usage of
simplistic, weak passwords that can easily be cracked. Year after year, studies find
that weak passwords such as “password” or “123456” remain extremely popular.

Yet another issue is our lethargy to change passwords from time to time, unless
prompted. While most organizations ensure employees at all levels change their
passwords after a fixed period, most of us avoid the practice when using emails,
online wallets, shopping apps and websites, and others.

Strong password strategies

One fine research on password vulnerability proved that weak passwords were a
crook’s true friend. To protect one’s accounts, a few strategies should be followed
while selecting passwords which include:

 Password length: To avoid being brute-forced, users should choose

passwords which are longer and more complex. Using at least 16 characters
for your password is recommended.
 Avoid names and birthdates: A large portion of passwords tend to use the
names and birthdates of our parents, spouses, children or even pets. These
sorts of passwords are vulnerable to cracking with only a little bit of research
on social media and social engineering.
  Avoid dictionary words: As humans, it is our tendency to use commonly
used dictionary words as passwords, since these are quite easy to remember.
You must consider that if it is easy for you to remember, it would also be
easy for an attacker to crack or simply guess.
 Uniqueness: Each and every one of your passwords should be unique. Never
use the same password twice. With the connected digital ecosystem that we
live in, an attacker breaking into one of our accounts may give them access
to multiple others.
 Mixing it up: Include lower and upper case letters, digits and symbols during
password construction.
 Changing passwords: Regularly change your passwords—not just on your
crucial (bank) accounts, but on your regular active accounts such as email
and social media too.

Significance of password protection

A lot of users usually avoid taking such measures, since adhering to such measures
puts a lot of strain on users, especially when they must make the same
consideration for their dozens of online accounts. However, ensuring the usage of
strong passwords is of utmost importance today, especially considering that almost
our entire lives reside online, and thus how much we stand to lose in the event of
an attack—both financially and psychologically.