Create Stronger Passwords

An attacker who wants to break into one of your accounts manually might first try likely passwords such as your pet's name, your anniversary, or other terms that are significant to you. If that doesn't produce results quickly, a hacker might turn to a program that rapidly tries each of the thousands or even millions of words in a big list--a procedure known as a dictionary attack. Some dictionary attacks are quite clever, checking not only common English terms but also foreign words, common misspellings, words in which letters have been replaced by numbers or symbols (such as @ppl3 for Apple), and easy-to-type sequences of characters, such as poiuytre.

By Joe Kissell

Mon, July 06, 2009Macworld An attacker who wants to break into one of your accounts manually might first try likely passwords such as your pet's name, your anniversary, or other terms that are significant to you. If that doesn't produce results quickly, a hacker might turn to a program that rapidly tries each of the thousands or even millions of words in a big list--a procedure known as a dictionary attack. Some dictionary attacks are quite clever, checking not only common English terms but also foreign words, common misspellings, words in which letters have been replaced by numbers or symbols (such as @ppl3 for Apple), and easy-to-type sequences of characters, such as poiuytre.

The 10 Dumbest Mistakes Network Managers Make

If that doesn't work, and if someone has the time and motivation, the next step would be a brute-force attack. In this type of attack, a computer program tries every possible combination of characters until the password is found, although current technology puts practical limits on the extent of such attacks.

When you create a new password, the trick is to come up with something that a dictionary attack could never discover, and to make the password long enough and complex enough that even a brute-force attack couldn't succeed because it would require too much time and processing power. Here's how:

Make them long

Passwords become exponentially harder to crack with each character you add, so longer passwords are much better than shorter ones. A brute-force attack can easily defeat a password with seven or fewer characters. Your mandatory minimum should be eight characters. Even then, you need to make those eight characters count: a randomly generated eight-character password using letters, numbers, and symbols (for example, h7%R9#jA) is vastly more secure than an ordinary eight-letter word such as licenses. You'll get the best protection from a random password of at least 11 characters or a non-random password of at least 17 characters (make sure that the password is not discoverable in any dictionary).

Start with a sentence

True mathematical randomness is hard to come by, but for a run-of-the-mill password, what counts is that a computer couldn't discern obvious or personal patterns in it. One common way to create a random password is to turn a sentence that you can easily remember into a password by using the first letter of each word, perhaps substituting some numbers as appropriate. The string ZTwt12potUS, as it follows no apparent pattern, might be a good choice. But it's still quite memorable because I derived it from the sentence "Zachary Taylor was the twelfth president of the United States."

Security

Loading...
Security MarketSpace
8 Tactics to Combat Vulnerabilities
This white paper reviews 8 key elements of vulnerability management and provides advice on combating known vs. unknown vulnerabilities. Learn more »
Email and Web Threats Require a Layered Defense
Learn how web threats are changing and how using a layered defense strategy can give you the security you need. Learn more »
Take Fraudsters Out of the Game
Easily identify account-device relationships and get data for in-depth forensic analysis. Learn more »
Mobile Security Landscape
This paper examines the current mobile security landscape, including myths surrounding the risks and threats, and how organizations can establish a solid mobile security strategy. Learn more »
Reducing Energy Costs in Your Data Center
This white paper examines the most common roadblocks to improving data center efficiency. Learn more »
Security convergence equals network security cost savings
Security convergence equals network security cost savings Learn more »
IBM ISS X-Force Threat and Risk Report
Read this Trend and Risk report from IBM® ISS X-Force® to learn statistical information about all aspects of threats that affect Internet security, including software vulnerabilities and public exploitation, malware, spam, phishing, web-based threats, and general cyber criminal activity. Learn more »
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Mobile Security: The Essential Ingredient for Today's Enterprise

IDC White Paper: CCM for IT Compliance and Risk Management

Keeping Your Members Safe from Online Scams and Predators

Learn about the growing threat of insider data theft.

See how AT&T can help protect your network.

Webcast: Unleashing the Power of Customer Data

White Paper: 5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support

Global Research: CIOs Weigh In On Virtualization

5 Key Virtualization Management Challenges

The Total Economic Impact of Network Security Intrusion Prevention

Join us at the US-Brazil IT-BPO Summit, on November 10th in New York.

Increase UPS efficiency without sacrificing protection.

Learn how advanced forecasting tools can deliver significant business results for global corporations.

Lower IT Costs with Oracle Database 11g Release 2

White Paper: Visibility and the New Normal of Mobile Work

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Learn about The Information Technology Infrastructure Library.

Top Five CIO Challenges

Streamline IT Costs. Boost Performance with WAN Optimization.

Want to know how you can maximize employee productivity?

Build your 1st app FREE with Force.com

TDWI checklist helps define data readiness for analytics. Download report.

A new fleet of PCs with a total ROI in 10 months. Find your ROI.

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

Reduce risk, gain agility. See how Progress can help your business.

White Paper: Managed Security for a Not-So-Secure World

Secure Email and Web-Based Communication from Evolving Attacks

WagerWorks Takes Fraudsters Out of the Game using iovation

White Paper: A Security Blueprint Delivered From within the Network

White Paper: 4 Customer Service Myths

White Paper: Improve Agility with Operational Responsiveness

White Paper: Legacy Tools: Not Built for the Helpdesk

Taking a Seat at the Executive Table: The Reality of Virtualization

White Paper: Next Generation Remote Infrastructure Management

Seven Design Requirements for Web 2.0 Threat Protection

Generation Remote Infrastructure Management - Changing the Paradigm

Cloud-Based Email Management: Opinion Shifts In Favor

eBook: How Can You Make Your People Productive Anywhere?

Achieving Business Agility with Application Grid

Ready to virtualize tier one applications? Check your virtualization maturity.

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Tips for successful virtualization management.

Unified Communications: Thoughts, Strategies and Predictions. Join the discussion

Read the RSA report: Security for Business Innovation

Webcast: Looking to the Cloud for Email and Collaboration Services

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

Keep your IT expertise up to date. Join the Intel Premier IT Professionals.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

The rules of infrastructure management just changed.

 
 
RESOURCE CENTER