A new report from Cybernews is shedding light on a major security breach linked to leaked passwords. Since April of last year, more than 200 data breaches have taken place. These leaks have resulted in over 19 billion passwords being compromised.
The report published for public view is making many users rethink their passwords. When reviewing the cases, it was found that the type of passwords you decide on really does make a difference. Only 6% were unique, so that means they were not used elsewhere or reused at a different location. They commonly used phrases that are not child’s play for a threat actor to crack.
And if things were not bad enough, some of the overtly commonly used terms were long-term members of the shameful and commonly used passwords, including 123455 and the word password. As experts claim, many users tend to learn the hard way, and it’s sad to say the least.
The default password issue remains one of the most persistent and harmful patterns in terms of leaked credential databases. Attackers prioritize them, and they make the passwords among those that are least secure. After it gets pre-set, the names of users are another common encounter that again has critics upset.
There was an 8% probability that some of the world’s most common names happened to be a part of the list of passwords getting compromised easily. The experts also found it shocking that many do rely on curse words, where nearly 16 million passwords featured the F-bomb. Meanwhile, one-third of the passwords reviewed only terms in lowercase and digits, with 20% of them being unique in nature and mixed with uppercase letters and digits. They lack special characters.
This might not be a major concern, but the types of passwords are much easier to crack when hackers know which terms to target and how people aren’t smart enough to keep a stronger password.
At the moment, we are facing a massive issue of weak passwords and reusing passwords, experts claim. And the fact that roughly 6% of all of them are unique means getting your account compromised is very easy and likely to happen.
So the question remains, what’s the solution? Well, many of us rely on two-factor authentication, if that gets enabled.
The rise of AI and the arrival of more sophisticated means for hacking mean it’s getting simpler for attackers to crack passwords. To keep yourself protected, users must avail stronger and unique terms for every online account.
Avoid four-character passwords and never use something that does not have symbols because you’re more vulnerable to an attack. Most popular passwords are between 8 to 10 characters long, but 14 to 18 characters are ideal. If you are designing something unique, you must include a variety of figures and letters in both upper and lowercase, as well as symbols.
Keeping all this in mind is never easy. One top security recommendation has to do with password managers and using the best one. This stores all credentials in a single location to prevent hassle in the long run.
Many online accounts have the chance to set up passkeys or make use of biometric logins. Simultaneously, users need to enable multi-factor authentication on multiple accounts to keep data safe, even if they don’t experience a password compromise. Last but not least, after getting that strong password, never share it with anyone else.
Image: DIW-Aigen
Read next:
• Inner World of Cyber Espionage Revealed Thanks to Meta’s Lawsuit Against Israel’s NSO
• How To Get A Free US Number
• How to Find the Publish Date of a Website, Webpage or Article. 6 Super Hacks!
The report published for public view is making many users rethink their passwords. When reviewing the cases, it was found that the type of passwords you decide on really does make a difference. Only 6% were unique, so that means they were not used elsewhere or reused at a different location. They commonly used phrases that are not child’s play for a threat actor to crack.
And if things were not bad enough, some of the overtly commonly used terms were long-term members of the shameful and commonly used passwords, including 123455 and the word password. As experts claim, many users tend to learn the hard way, and it’s sad to say the least.
The default password issue remains one of the most persistent and harmful patterns in terms of leaked credential databases. Attackers prioritize them, and they make the passwords among those that are least secure. After it gets pre-set, the names of users are another common encounter that again has critics upset.
There was an 8% probability that some of the world’s most common names happened to be a part of the list of passwords getting compromised easily. The experts also found it shocking that many do rely on curse words, where nearly 16 million passwords featured the F-bomb. Meanwhile, one-third of the passwords reviewed only terms in lowercase and digits, with 20% of them being unique in nature and mixed with uppercase letters and digits. They lack special characters.
This might not be a major concern, but the types of passwords are much easier to crack when hackers know which terms to target and how people aren’t smart enough to keep a stronger password.
At the moment, we are facing a massive issue of weak passwords and reusing passwords, experts claim. And the fact that roughly 6% of all of them are unique means getting your account compromised is very easy and likely to happen.
So the question remains, what’s the solution? Well, many of us rely on two-factor authentication, if that gets enabled.
The rise of AI and the arrival of more sophisticated means for hacking mean it’s getting simpler for attackers to crack passwords. To keep yourself protected, users must avail stronger and unique terms for every online account.
Avoid four-character passwords and never use something that does not have symbols because you’re more vulnerable to an attack. Most popular passwords are between 8 to 10 characters long, but 14 to 18 characters are ideal. If you are designing something unique, you must include a variety of figures and letters in both upper and lowercase, as well as symbols.
Keeping all this in mind is never easy. One top security recommendation has to do with password managers and using the best one. This stores all credentials in a single location to prevent hassle in the long run.
Many online accounts have the chance to set up passkeys or make use of biometric logins. Simultaneously, users need to enable multi-factor authentication on multiple accounts to keep data safe, even if they don’t experience a password compromise. Last but not least, after getting that strong password, never share it with anyone else.
Image: DIW-Aigen
Read next:
• Inner World of Cyber Espionage Revealed Thanks to Meta’s Lawsuit Against Israel’s NSO
• How To Get A Free US Number
• How to Find the Publish Date of a Website, Webpage or Article. 6 Super Hacks!
