Weak and easy-to-guess passwords make even the soundest cybersecurity strategy easy to bypass. If a hacker guesses or cracks a password, the intruder can access your account or system without raising the alarm and compromise whatever asset you kept safe behind a password.
The guide below provides 11 strong password ideas that will help you stay a step ahead of hackers. We also explain the difference between sound and weak passphrases, provide tips on improving current passwords, and show the main methods hackers rely on to crack credentials.
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Password managers keep passphrases safe with encryption. If someone successfully hacks the manager, password hashes would be useless without the decryption key, which is why sound key management is vital for these apps.
A hacker can intercept credentials when victims exchange passwords via unsecured network communications (without VPN and in-transit encryption). Also known as sniffing or snooping, eavesdropping allows a hacker to steal a password without the victim noticing something is wrong.
Hackers typically gather tens of thousands of different credentials leaked from another hack. Unfortunately, as many people use the same simple passwords, this method is very effective. Another name for credential recycling is password spraying.
I recognize that not all of you are technically savvy, though, that doesn't mean you can't be with some hard work. So this Facebook hack is for those of you without either the technical savvy or the work ethic to become so. All you need is a moment or two of unfettered physical access to the target's computer and you can easily have their Facebook password.
This hack relies upon the fact that most of us want websites to remember us when we return. We don't want to put in our username and password every time we want to access the site, so we tell the browser to "Remember me." In that way, we don't need to re-authenticate and provide our password, our system simply remembers it and provides it to the website.
Elcomsoft developed a Windows tool named Facebook Password Extractor (FPE, for short) that extracts the user's Facebook password from its location on the user's system (the user must have used the "Remember me" feature) and then cracks it. Of course, we need physical access to the system to do this in most cases. Alternatively, if we can hack their system, we could upload this tool to the target system and then use it or we could simply download the user's browser password file and use this tool locally on our system.
The process of using this tool is almost idiot-proof. (Almost a requirement for Facebook hacking, wouldn't you agree?) You simply install it on the system whose Facebook password you want to extract and it does everything else.
Yes the password for facebook is stored in Mozilla cookie. Also I have one stored in Chrome. But I think I'm doing something wrong. Once the Password Extractor boots up, there's no option to load the files located in 'Entries' folder. FPE simply pops up an error "No authentication data for facebook accounts were found on this computer". Opening the encrypted entries with the "FPE" program hasn't helped either.
so i could use some help, i cant get access to either my old facebook or gmail. and unlike the above user i have a open and honest explanation. i just got outta jail, and the password i made two years ago high on drugs is something i havent the slightest hope of remembering. if anyone could help id be forever grateful
I will explain the mathematical rationale for some standard advice, including clarifying why six characters are not enough for a good password and why you should never use only lowercase letters. I will also explain how hackers can uncover passwords even when stolen data sets lack them.
That is more than 62 trillion times the size of the first space. A computer running through all the possibilities for your 12-character password one by one would take 62 trillion times longer. If your computer spent a second visiting the six-character space, it would have to devote two million years to examining each of the passwords in the 12-character space. The multitude of possibilities makes it impractical for a hacker to carry out a plan of attack that might have been feasible for the six-character space.
You can check whether any of your passwords has already been hacked by using a Web tool called Pwned Passwords ( ). Its database includes more than 500 million passwords obtained after various attacks.
For added safety, a method known as salting is sometimes used to further impede hackers from exploiting stolen lists of username/fingerprint pairs. Salting is the addition of a unique random string of characters to each password. It ensures that even if two users employ the same password, the stored fingerprints will differ. The list on the server will contain three components for each user: username, fingerprint derived after salt was added to the password, and the salt itself. When the server checks the password entered by a user, it adds the salt, computes the fingerprint and compares the result with its database.
Many computations must be done to establish the first and last column of the rainbow table. By storing only the data in these two columns and by recomputing the chain, hackers can identify any password from its fingerprint.
Dictionary attacks are similar to brute force methods but involve hackers running automated scripts that take lists of known usernames and passwords and run them against a login system sequentially to gain access to a service. It means every username would have to be checked against every possible password before the next username could be attempted against every possible password.
For example, if a hacker is aware that a password begins with a number, they will be able to tailor the mask to only try those types of passwords. Password length, the arrangement of characters, whether special characters are included, or how many times a single character is repeated are just some of the criteria that can be used to configure the mask.
Offline hacking usually involves the process of decrypting passwords by using a list of hashes likely taken from a recent data breach. Without the threat of detection or password form restrictions, hackers are able to take their time.
Somewhat self-explanatory, shoulder surfing simply sees hackers peering over the shoulder of a potential target, looking to visually track keystrokes when entering passwords. This could take place in any public space like a coffee shop, or even on public transport such as a flight. An employee may be accessing in-flight internet to complete a task before landing and the hacker could be sitting nearby, watching for an opportunity to note down a password to an email account, for example.
If all else fails, a hacker can always try and guess your password. While there are many password managers available that create strings that are impossible to guess, many users still rely on memorable phrases. These are often based on hobbies, pets, or family, much of which is often contained in the very profile pages that the password is trying to protect.
On average, it takes a hacker about two seconds to crack an 11-character password that uses only numbers. Throw in some upper- and lower-case letters, and it will take a hacker one minute to hack into a seven-character password.
Hive Systems developed a handy chart to illustrate the time it takes for a hacker to brute force your password. A brute force attack on your login details is when cybercriminals use trial-and-error to guess your details.
Cybercriminals use sophisticated software that can run thousands of password combinations a minute, and their tools are only getting better. A general rule is that your password should be at least 11 characters and use numbers, along with upper and lowercase letters. That combination will take hackers 41 years to crack.
If you are unsure whether your passwords are strong enough, check out the How Secure Is My Password? tool. By putting in some of your passwords, the system will tell you how long it will take a hacker to crack.
While you might think a password such as this is secure, hackers know people use these tricks and can plug in any number of variations into their tools and test them out. Once again, in a matter of moments, a hacker will figure out your password.
Though you cannot stop your important accounts from getting breached, which is up to the organizations and companies that own them, you can do something on your end to minimize the chance of your password being hacked.
You know that we should create unique passwords for each account, but with so many to maintain, how can you do it and not drive yourself crazy? One solution is to use a password formula. Instead of trying to remember hundreds of passwords, you remember one formula to translate the website address (URL) into a unique password.
> Add the first 3 characters of the website domainBlue4gmawww.facebook.comBlue4facwww.twitter.comBlue4twiwww.hdf.netBlue4hdfNote: this is a simple example to illustrate formulas and is not recommended for actual use.
Any systems, regardless of which method is used for identification and/or authentication is susceptible to hacking. Password-protected systems or collection of data (think bank accounts, social networks, and e-mail systems) are probed daily and are subject to frequent attacks carried forward not only through phishing and social engineering methods, but also by means of passwords cracking tools. The debate is always open, and the length vs. complexity issue divides experts and users. Both have pros and cons as well as their own supporters.
Weak and insecure passwords are a security concern and a gateway to breaches that can affect more than just the targeted users. It is important to create keys that strike the right balance between being easy to remember and hard for others (intruders or impostors) to guess, crack or hack. 2ff7e9595c
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