The most common first-line defense for computer security is the password. This begins at computer logon and continues to network, software, and website security. As we all know, people are our weakest security link and passwords are where we often fail. Complex passwords are difficult to remember. It is challenging to think of and remember good strong passwords. Of these next two examples, which would you believe to be the best option as a strong password? "J8$kl934" or "MySmartDogGypsy"
You may be surprised to find that the simpler, but longer option is harder to crack. It takes less than 4 hours for a modern brute-force password cracker to cycle through every combination of characters for an eight character string of random letters, numbers, and symbols. It would take 317 years to crack the plain English phrase of 12 characters. I don't know about you, but for me, this is actually good news. I have a better chance of remembering a meaningful, (but obscure to someone else) phrase than some random, complicated series of characters. I am also more likely to be better about using unique phrases for each site/software.
So pass this information on to your family and the users you provide IT services for. It may be helpful to get them started by having an exercise to think of creative passwords. Many people enjoy creating and guessing fun license plate 'codes'. If passwords can be made more 'fun', meaningful, and users can be educated as to what truly is a strong password, it may result in better compliance with strong password practice. An introduction and some training in the capabilities of another tool, a password manager such as LastPass, can be used to help with password management. By helping our users to do the right thing, we may strengthen the weakest link.
Great post.thanks for sharing this wonderful article. All the best to you.
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