Experts warn nearly half of the world’s passwords can easily be cracked in just a few minutes


Using real-world samples recovered from the dark web, Kaspersky researchers have tested how long it would take to crack most passwords, and found that almost half of the world’s passwords can be cracked in less than a minute.

Additionally, the research shows that within an hour, that number rises to three out of five passwords.

Armed with this knowledge, the researchers then explored what differentiates a strong password from a weak one.

Read more…
Source:  TechRadar News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • FBI sees surge in online shopping scams, FTC says most reports ever

    August 3, 2020

    The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) today warned of an increased number of reports coming from victims of online shopping scams. The public service announcement, published on the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), says that the scam victims report that they found the scammers’ websites either via direct searches on popular web search engines ...

  • Take a “NetWalk” on the Wild Side

    August 3, 2020

    The NetWalker ransomware, initially known as Mailto, was first detected in August 2019. Since then, new variants were discovered throughout 2019 and the beginning of 2020, with a strong uptick noticed in March of this year. NetWalker has noticeably evolved to a more stable and robust ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, and our research suggests that the malware ...

  • Google: Eleven zero-days detected in the wild in the first half of 2020

    August 3, 2020

    According to data collected by Google’s Project Zero security team, there have been 11 zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in the wild in the first half of the year. The current number puts 2020 on track to have just as many zero-days as 2019 when Google security researchers said they tracked 20 zero-days all of last year. Details about ...

  • How the FBI tracked down the Twitter hackers

    August 1, 2020

    After earlier today US law enforcement charged three individuals for the recent Twitter hack, with the help of court documents released by the DOJ, ZDNet was able to piece together a timeline of the hack, and how US investigators tracked down the three suspected hackers. The article below uses data from three indictments published today by the ...

  • WastedLocker: technical analysis

    July 31, 2020

    The use of crypto-ransomware in targeted attacks has become an ordinary occurrence lately: new incidents are being reported every month, sometimes even more often. On July 23, Garmin, a major manufacturer of navigation equipment and smart devices, including smart watches and bracelets, experienced a massive service outage. As confirmed by an official statement later, the cause ...

  • US defense and aerospace sectors targeted in new wave of North Korean attacks

    July 30, 2020

    Tracked under the codename of “Operation North Star,” McAfee said these attacks have been linked to infrastructure and TTPs (Techniques, Tactics, and Procedures) previously associated with Hidden Cobra — an umbrella term the US government uses to describe all North Korean state-sponsored hacking groups. As for the attacks themselves, McAfee said they were run-of-the-mill spear-phishing emails ...