In a startling revelation, Kaspersky, a leading security firm, has found that nearly 45% of passwords can be cracked in less than a minute. Through analysis of 193 million English passwords circulating on the darknet, Kaspersky discovered that a whopping 87 million of them succumb to brute force or smart guessing attacks within just 60 seconds.
Even more concerning, another 14% can be breached in under an hour, leaving only 23% resilient enough to withstand such attacks for more than a year. The study highlights a significant vulnerability: 57% of these passwords include dictionary words, drastically weakening their strength. Common choices like “love,” “gamer,” “password,” and “12345” are rampant, making them easy targets for attackers.
Despite 19% of passwords showing signs of strength—non-dictionary words combined with uppercase, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols—39% of these still fall prey to smart algorithms in under an hour. This demonstrates that even seemingly strong passwords are often not random enough to thwart sophisticated cracking methods.
Yuliya Novikova, Head of Digital Footprint Intelligence at Kaspersky, emphasized the issue: “Unconsciously, human beings create ‘human’ passwords—words from their native languages, names, and numbers. Even strong combinations are rarely random, so algorithms can often guess them.”
Kaspersky’s analysis underscores the alarming ease with which attackers can crack passwords. A robust laptop processor can brute force an eight-character lowercase password in just seven minutes, while modern video cards can achieve the same in a mere 17 seconds.
To safeguard against these threats, Kaspersky advocates for the use of modern, reliable password managers to generate truly random passwords, ensuring higher security.
For more insights on protecting your digital life, visit FinQfy.
