How Easy is it to Hack Your Password? John Pozadzides Tells All
Hopefully, after all the password advice we've given you, you use strong passwords and create a unique password for all of your Web sites. It's especially important to use a different password for your financial sites than lower-security sites like social networking services.
Even so, your password protocols might be a bit sloppy. Here's something that might scare you straight: some frank confessions about how easy it is to hack your password.
iFusion Labs CEO John Pozadzides recently explained how he would hack your password. It's a fascinating read.
To begin with, he says he can crack 20% of the passwords out there just by trying these red-flag details:
- Your partner, child, or pet's name, possibly followed by a 0 or 1
- The last 4 digits of your social security number.
- 123 or 1234 or 123456.
- "password"
- Your city, or college, football team name.
- Date of birth - yours, your partner's or your child's.
- "god"
- "letmein"
- "money"
- "love"
How long does this approach take? Check out this eye-opening table:
Clearly, this indicates you'd be crazy not to use at least 8 characters and mix uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols. And for the love of Woden, don't use the same password on business-critical or financial sites as on low-security personal sites. [via Lifehacker]
Photo by AMagill
