The online data research company, Statista, has shared a chart, based on SecurityOrg data, on how adding different letters to a password can make it almost impossible to crack.
According to the data, passwords such as 123456, or using "qwerty", which are two of the most used passwords globally, should no longer be preferred by anyone. They added that in comparison to these two passwords, if a user decides to create a unique and strong pass code, that even could be cracked by a programmed computer working systematically just to break it.
The folks at SecurityOrg shared some useful insights. According to their data, if a user adds just a single uppercase letter to their pass code, the overall strength of it can be changed exponentially. An 8-digit pass code can be taken down by a computer in just 22 minutes. Previously, if the user hadn’t used the uppercase letter, the computer could have completed the task in just 1 second. From getting cracked in a second to adding 22 minutes to the time, that is what an extra uppercase letter can do.
Even a 22-minute time period is unacceptable, and such a password is not considered reliable. If a lower case is added to the password, the strength is again multiplied, and now the time is stretched from 22 minutes to 60 minutes. If an additional symbol is also added, the time that will be taken will go up by 8 hours.
Adding more upper and lower case letters with digits and symbols could take years to be cracked by a programmed system. A password based on 12 characters and having all these different characters could take almost thirty-four thousand years to be cracked.
With every additional character to the password, the number of combinations changes at an exponential rate. An 8-digit code with lowercase letters carries two hundred and nine different combinations, and if an uppercase is added, the password now stands at 53.4 trillion different possibilities. Then if a digit is added, the possibility is now 1 in 218 trillion cases. Lastly, if a user decides to add a symbol as well, the password will have four hundred and thirty trillion different possibilities.
Read next: How to Deal With Personal Data Breaches
According to the data, passwords such as 123456, or using "qwerty", which are two of the most used passwords globally, should no longer be preferred by anyone. They added that in comparison to these two passwords, if a user decides to create a unique and strong pass code, that even could be cracked by a programmed computer working systematically just to break it.
The folks at SecurityOrg shared some useful insights. According to their data, if a user adds just a single uppercase letter to their pass code, the overall strength of it can be changed exponentially. An 8-digit pass code can be taken down by a computer in just 22 minutes. Previously, if the user hadn’t used the uppercase letter, the computer could have completed the task in just 1 second. From getting cracked in a second to adding 22 minutes to the time, that is what an extra uppercase letter can do.
Even a 22-minute time period is unacceptable, and such a password is not considered reliable. If a lower case is added to the password, the strength is again multiplied, and now the time is stretched from 22 minutes to 60 minutes. If an additional symbol is also added, the time that will be taken will go up by 8 hours.
Adding more upper and lower case letters with digits and symbols could take years to be cracked by a programmed system. A password based on 12 characters and having all these different characters could take almost thirty-four thousand years to be cracked.
With every additional character to the password, the number of combinations changes at an exponential rate. An 8-digit code with lowercase letters carries two hundred and nine different combinations, and if an uppercase is added, the password now stands at 53.4 trillion different possibilities. Then if a digit is added, the possibility is now 1 in 218 trillion cases. Lastly, if a user decides to add a symbol as well, the password will have four hundred and thirty trillion different possibilities.
Read next: How to Deal With Personal Data Breaches