Online attacks are growing every day. Consequently, requirements for strong passwords have become more stringent. Nonetheless, they are essential for keeping your most private information safe.
And, as it turns out, what you think is a strong password might actually be an easy hack.
Read on to learn about what a strong password entails and what to look out for when creating your next password.
What are online attacks?
An online attack occurs when someone attempts to log in to a website or internet account by guessing someone else’s username and password.
Whether an attacker aims to gain access to your email account, or they plan to compromise and steal information from a corporation, online attacks can have massive ramifications. A few effects of online attacks can include, theft of money, loss of business reputation, and theft of financial information.
Most attackers use computer programs to systematically generate and guess combinations of passwords. Cracking programs typically understand that humans can be predictable.
Most of the popular passwords are easy strings of numbers, words found in a dictionary, or dictionary words obfuscated by symbols.
According to Fortune magazine, some of the most common passwords are:
- 123456
- Password
- 12345678
- Qwerty
- 12345
- 123456789
As you can see, some of the most common passwords are closely related, or easy to guess.
It’s important to remember that any system that’s online, or local to your computer, is subject to an attack. Online attacks are increasingly easy to perform, which makes it important for you to protect yourself.
That’s why you need to learn more about password strength in order to protect yourself.
How is a strong password determined?
Typically, the length and complexity of your password will reflect the strength of your password.
As a general rule of thumb, the longer your password the harder it will be to crack. Especially if you combine factors like:
- Special characters
- Lowercase and uppercase letters
- Words not found in the dictionary
Password manager like EZPD creates random passwords up to 256 characters long with a mix of alpha numeric, numbers, and special characters to ensure maximum strength.
How should you store your passwords?
Creating a strong password is an important first step. However, storing your password is equally significant.
The problem most of us face is, the longer and more unique a password, the harder it can be to remember. And storing your password irresponsibly can compromise your information.
Because of this, we rely on password managers. But, traditional password managers use a cloud or a server to store passwords they have generated for their uses. Therein lies the problem. Servers and clouds can also be hacked. Therefore, what seems like a secure method for password generation may not be after all.
Password managers and browsers allow users to create a master password, which is a single key to unlocking all doors and your first line of defense. However, if a master password is compromised, all passwords stored in the cloud or on a PC will be lost.
The only way to truly feel protected is by using a password manager that creates strong, unique passwords and does not store your passwords. Luckily, EZPD checks off all of these boxes.
EZPD uses a unique method that your password is never stored, only regenerated on demand. When you’re ready to regenerate your existing password—or generate a new password— you can Sign in to your account from any device and easily access your sensitive information again.
How can you ensure you have a strong password?
As hacking software continues to get stronger, online password strength meters that are common for creating or checking passwords can’t keep up. Therefore, just because the meter shows a strong password doesn’t make it entirely reliable. Users must take matters into their own hands.
Realistically, the only way to know you have a strong password is by using unique, complex and long passwords to outwit hackers.
That’s where EZPD comes in. When you use EZPD, you don’t need to think twice about your password strength. Our proprietary algorithm does all the heavy lifting for you.
Learn more about EZPD and free sign up to experience how EZPD can protect you today.