When it comes to using websites, social media accounts, email, and even the computer itself, the most common way we prove who we are is who we say we are. Passwords also give us and others access to mobile phones, bank applications, work logins, and confidential files. For many online systems, the password is what prevents hackers from stealing our personal data. Read on to find out how cyber criminals can hack passwords and password protection techniques.
Why it's easy for hackers to hack
While password creation may seem like a safe bet, big, trusted companies like eBay, LinkedIn and Facebook have broken down in recent times, many of them becoming compromising passwords for users. Are In 2016, cybercrime cost the global economy more than 50 450 billion and more than two billion records were stolen, according to the chief executive of insurance company Hascox. Why is it so easy for hackers to access accounts and secure passwords?
First and foremost, we reuse our passwords. More than 60% of the population uses the same password on multiple sites. And because 39% of people have a hard time tracking passwords, when we keep passwords for years or decades, we become incredibly sensitive to hackers.
People are also surprisingly predictable. We use passwords that are specified in some form in our lives, because they are easy to remember. Because of our visual memory capacity, it is easier to remember images and information that we are already familiar with and have some meaning for us. That's why we often make it easier to remember passwords based on things like family members, pets, or birthdays.
The average user also has 26 password-protected accounts, but these accounts have only five different passwords. This makes us more vulnerable to hacks, especially coercive attacks. More than 85% of Americans memorize online passwords, so much so that it is almost impossible to memorize 26 passwords. And with a lot of passwords, it is important to install a password management program. However, the astonishing 12% of Americans actually did. One is installed.
The standard rule of thumb is used to change the password every 90 days. In recent years, however, this method has been called ineffective by FTC's chief technologist and Carnegie Mellon computer science professor, Lori Kranor. He found that when people are forced to change their passwords regularly, they put less mental effort into it. This is another way that hackers can take advantage of people's lack of effort or their desire to change their password or diversify. securi critic