Well, it’s come up again in our office. On-line security is a very serious thing. Make sure your passwords are SECURE! Read on and find out what I use. But first,
Do you use:
1. Your partner, child, or pet’s name, possibly followed by a 0 or 1 (because they’re always making you use a number, aren’t they?)
2. The last 4 digits of your social security number.
3. 123 or 1234 or 123456.
4. “password”
5. Your city, or college, football team name.
6. Date of birth – yours, your partner’s or your child’s.
7. “god”
8. “letmein”
9. “money”
10. “love”
According to John Pozadzides, that covers about 20% of us. And, if you’re not in that list, it will take him a few more minutes to break in.
If your password is 5 characters long, all in lower case, it takes 11.9 seconds to crack. If your password is 8 characters long, using a mix of all characters on the keyboard (uppercase, lowercase, and special characters – like @#$%^&*), it will take 2.1 centuries to crack!
John wrote one of the best posts on passwords I’ve read. It’s frightening, informative, educational and, therefore, empowering!
Take a few minutes to read “How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords” and learn how you can make your passwords secure.
I would like to recommend a wonderful password program, 1Password. Check them out. Easy to use; they create killer passwords for you; more than worth the money. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
How secure are your passwords?
