How Secure Is your Password
According to the survey conducted by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) of the United Kingdom, 23.2 million accounts were using ‘123456’ as six characters password. In comparison, ‘12345678’ was used as an eight characters password that was securing the accounts of 7.7 million people. The interesting fact about these accounts is that all had hacked by cybercriminals.
Password plays a major role in securing the data of your website whether you are applying password on your database or multiple usernames, it must be robust and different so that it can prevent hackers from entering your site and harming your site. You should know that how fast can my site password be hacked and how to stop bad guys from damaging your database.
How Fast Can an Attacker Crack your Password?
A hacker can crack your password by using the free downloadable hacking tools or a typical system to run the virus. According to the professionals and experienced white hats, a password of 3 characters can be found out in 0.8 seconds while a four-digit password will consume the 1.36 minutes of an attacker.
With this, a standard password of 6 characters can be cracked in 5 minutes to 8 days, while the time of two days to 2 centuries goes for the password of eight characters. It is the reason most of the websites ask you to keep a password of eight characters made up of with the combination of numerals, letters, symbols, and uppercase.
Sometimes, a user only uses all lowercase or uppercase letters instead of a combination of symbols, upper case, lower case, and numerals. But, you must know that using a single thing in your password, whether it is lowercase or uppercase, can make your password more vulnerable to the attack.
Consequences of Keeping a Weak Password
When it comes to the consequences of keeping a weak password, you can’t bound them to two or three as there are various aftermaths that you can see after an attacker gain access to your database by cracking your weak password.
Most of the hackers attack your site to steal all the credentials of your users, such as banking details, personal information, etc. They can use this information to do fraud with customers to pull out all money from their accounts or sell all the data to a third party.
With this, an attacker can use your website for his dirty works, or he can shut your site, and the users will not be able to access your website at all. Sometimes, some freaks also leave the messages on your homepage, such as ‘This Site Has Been Hacked by Mr. X,’ to tell your visitors that surfing on your site is not safe for them. Due to these reasons, your visitors will be forced to find an alternative, and they will shift to your competitive businesses.
How to Choose a Robust Password to Secure your Site?
There are multiple techniques that you can use to make a secure password and prevent hackers from accessing your database. Use the following methods to build a robust password-
- It is always best to keep a password of 6 to 8 characters instead of four or five in which eight-character password is the best as a strong password of this value may take 2.10 million years of an attacker to crack the same, that is not possible.
- Always use the combination of letters, numbers, uppercase, lowercase, and symbols while you are creating a password.
- Whenever you are creating a password for your database, try to use the character substitution method, for example, @ for a p@$$W0rd instead of password, etc.
- A password-cracking software can detect your spellings, which can be found in a dictionary. Hence, it is always best to misspell your words, such as hatz for hats.
- Sometimes, the hacker can be your friend or relative who knows you personally, and they can detect your password by guessing your important days. Therefore, avoid using the birthdate, anniversary, pet name, or the name of your family members.
- Avoid using capitalize the first letter of your password as it is one of the most obvious things that are found in a password.
The Bottom Line
Now, you have known about how fast can my site password be hacked, consequences of keeping a poor password, and the most important steps for making a strong password. It’s time to secure your website by using the tips to make a great password.
