Blog Post

Passwords? Pass the Cracker please…….

PeterWallace

“Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don’t let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months.”  -Clifford Stoll

Why are strong passwords needed?
Good computer security includes the use of strong passwords for all your accounts. Passwords can be the weakest link in a computer security scheme. Strong passwords are important because password cracking tools continue to improve and the computers used to crack passwords are more powerful. Network passwords that once took weeks to break can now be broken in hours.

Password cracking software uses one of three approaches: intelligent guessing, dictionary attacks, and automation that tries every possible combination of characters. Given enough time, the automated method can crack any password. However, it still can take months to crack a strong password.

For a password to be strong and hard to break, it should:

  • Contain 6 or more characters
  • Contain characters from each of the following three groups:
    1. Letters (uppercase and lowercase) A, B, C,…; a, b, c,…
    2. Numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
    3. Symbols (all characters not defined as letters or numerals) ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + – = { } | [ ] : ” ; ‘ < > ? , . /
  • Have at least one symbol character in the second through sixth positions.
  • Be significantly different from prior passwords.
  • If there is only one letter or special character, it should not be either the first or last character in the password

Do NOT use:

  • Your username or any part thereof
  • Name(s) of yourself, family, friends, pets, or co-workers
  • Computer terms and names, commands, sites, companies, hardware, or software
  • Birthdays or other personal information such as addresses or phone numbers
  • A set of characters in alphabetic or numeric order (ex. abcdef), in a row on a keyboard
    (ex. qwerty), or a simple pattern (ex. 123123)
  • Words that can be found in a dictionary
  • Your UCLA ID number, a bank account PIN, credit card number, etc.
  • Any of the above spelled backwards
  • Any of the above preceded or followed by a digit (ex. qwerty1, 1qwerty)

Try to change your password(s) frequently.

When typing in your password, make sure no one is watching you type. Ask anyone around you to kindly look away.

Also the top 20 most common password are as follow. Is yours among them?

  1. 123456
  2. 12345
  3. 123456789
  4. Password
  5. iloveyou
  6. princess
  7. websitename (the name of the site example Microsoft or yahoo)
  8. 1234567
  9. 12345678
  10. abc123
  11. Nicole
  12. Daniel
  13. babygirl
  14. monkey
  15. Jessica
  16. Lovely
  17. michael
  18. Ashley
  19. 654321
  20. Qwerty

You will notice how many people have apparently used their first names as passwords.  Number 7 the password is simply the name of the site.

I  advise users to choose a strong password for sites you care for the privacy of the information you store.  If you’re concerned about being able to remember the code, here’s a little memory-jogging trick: Take a sentence and turn it into a password. Something like ‘This little piggy went to market’ might become ‘tlpWENT2m.’”

By Eberly Systems 02 May, 2024
West Lawn, PA, May 2, 2024 — Eberly Systems , the West Lawn-based managed IT services and managed voice provider, today announces its acquisition of the Lebanon-based LYLAB Technology Solutions. Eberly Systems seeks to further a movement of people who are motivated and equipped to make a difference in their world through their daily work. They believe in building lasting partnerships based on trust and transparency while delivering industry-leading solutions to support and protect critical business assets. Driven by the principles of people, excellence, integrity, and stewardship, the team prides itself on partnering with companies to securely, reliably, and efficiently grow their businesses. “We cannot be more excited to join forces with the LYLAB team,” comments Kordel Eberly, Eberly Systems President & Founder. “ The integration of LYLAB Technology Solutions into Eberly Systems solidifies our commitment to providing small businesses with unparalleled service and support. We’re proud of this new opportunity to carefully design and manage the IT infrastructure and systems of even more local businesses and communities.” The acquisition solidifies the Eberly Systems commitment to supporting businesses in Lebanon County. Merging the two teams together as one entity offers the collective team the benefit of enhancing capabilities, refining processes, and extending reach to better serve the evolving needs of small businesses in the surrounding area. Future plans include expanding their presence into Lancaster County.
computer help with IT support
By Eberly Systems 16 Jan, 2024
A trusted MSP can be your invaluable strategic partner.
By Eberly Systems 02 Jan, 2024
These 5 key features of Office 365 Business Premium make it essential for businesses to have.
set of keys
By Eberly Systems 19 Dec, 2023
Eberly Systems has been hard at work over the last year in a concerted effort to enhance the security posture of our clients’ information technology environments. Here are the quarterly updates.
construction site
By Eberly Systems 03 Jul, 2023
After years of steady growth, the workforce at a construction development and property management company was becoming increasingly frustrated by disorganized data. Eberly Systems deployed a hybrid cloud storage solution for efficiency and secure data access.
By Nate M. 01 Jun, 2023
SharePoint file storage has both features and limitations that you should be aware of while storing and accessing files. Here's a rundown.
By Nate M. 05 Jan, 2023
These are the Eberly Systems recommendations for creating good passwords in 2023.
By Eberly Systems 15 Dec, 2022
Every business relies on phones and a phone service. In accordance with Eberly Services Managed IT, we offer Managed Voice solutions for both handheld and softphones supported by our stellar sales and help desk teams.
By Eberly Systems 04 Oct, 2022
Eberly Systems is proud to offer new services around managed endpoint detection & response, cloud security, business internet brokerage, and unlimited projects.
By Becky 22 Sep, 2022
Annual fundraisers offer a great opportunity to use company paid volunteer time off.
More Posts
Share by: