Summer 2024

Let’s Talk About P@ssw0rd$ (for beginners)

In today’s digital age, our personal information is more vulnerable than ever. Cyberattacks have become a common occurrence, and a significant portion of stolen data ends up for sale on hacker networks. Disturbingly, 86% of cyberattacks involve stolen information such as passwords, according to cybersecurity experts. The Dark Web serves as a black market for this stolen data, where hackers sell or give away information from breached accounts. This includes email addresses, passwords, names, home addresses, and financial data. Once on the Dark Web, this information can be used for identity theft, financial fraud, or unauthorized access to online accounts.

Protecting Yourself: Strong Passwords and Vigilance

Protecting yourself online is crucial. One effective measure is creating strong, unique passwords for each account.

Here are some tips:

1. Use Complex Passwords: A strong password should be at least 12 characters long (16 or 18 is better!) and include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Avoid common words, names, birthdates, or simple sequences like “123456”
   Why? Hackers and scammers can use the entire dictionary for common words to scan for, they have a database of commonly used passwords, and if your birthday, best vacation spot, favorate sport/gym/bike/activity, or pet name is on social meda (and part of your password), most likely hackers have that information too. .
2. Avoid Reusing Passwords: Using the same password across multiple accounts increases your risk. If one account is breached, all accounts with the same password become vulnerable.
   
   
3. Utilize Password Managers: Password managers, free and paid, can help you generate and store complex passwords securely. They can also alert you if any stored passwords are compromised.
   
   
4. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Whenever possible, enable 2FA for added security. This requires a second form of verification, like a code sent to your phone, or email, in addition to your password.
   

 

Insights

NordPass, from the Nord Security Group, evaluated over 4TB of data from publicly available sources, databases, and the Dark Web. Analysis of the data highlighted some trends in password creation and management habits across various digital platforms such as online streaming services, social media, and mobile devices. Trends include some part of the service name in the password such as “Disney”, “Netflix”, “Paypal”, as well as names, partner and pet names, birthdates, and the year the password was created.

“123456” proves to be the world’s worst and most hacked password. This study ranks it as the most common password 4 out of 5 times. Sadly, “1234”, “12345678” and “123456789” are also in the top 5 most breached passwords, according to the study.

Staying Safe in a Digital World

Most password manager software can help you create complex passwords with a click of a button. If you don’t use a password manager, a passphrase can help. For example, “I like to go for a walk on the beach in July” can be transformed into a password like “il2g4awotbij” by taking the first letter of each word and replacing “to” and “for” with numbers. Change a few of those to capital letters and add a special character (!@#$%&*) and you have yourself a strong password! Keep your passwords complex, try to use a password manager, and enable 2FA whenever possible for added security.