Online safety: 7 cybersecurity tips to create powerful passwords and protect your accounts

Tips to create strong passwords

Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky analysed 193 million passwords found in the public domain on various darknet resources, as part of a new study in June 2024.

As per Kaspersky, "45% of all analysed passwords (87M) could be guessed by scammers within a minute. Only 23% (44M) of combinations turned out to be resistant enough – cracking them would take more than a year".

Here are 7 cybersecurity tips for creating powerful passwords and online safety, straight from Kaspersky:

Use a password manager

Kaspersky experts say that memorising long and unique passwords for all the services one uses could be difficult, but there’s a solution for that: a password manager. When you use a password manager, you just have to commit one master password to your memory.

Do not use the same password for multiple services

Kaspersky advises global netizens to use a different password for each service. That way, even if one of your accounts is stolen, the rest will be safe from hackers.

Do not pick common or guessable words for your passwords

Using any common word, a word from the dictionary, or any meaningful word when crafting a password is highly dangerous.

As per the Kaspersky report, the majority of the examined passwords (57%) contain a word from the dictionary, which makes them weak.

Kaspersky researchers say that cybercriminals “do not require deep knowledge or expensive equipment to crack passwords. For example, a powerful laptop processor will be able to find the correct combination for a password of 8 lowercase letters or digits using brute force in just 7 minutes. Additionally, modern video cards will cope with the same task in 17 seconds”.

The Kaspersky report adds: “Smart algorithms for guessing passwords consider character replacements ("e" with "3", "1" with "!" or "a" with "@") and popular sequences ("qwerty", "12345", "asdfg")”.

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Use passphrases; jumble up the letters in words unusually

As per Kaspersky cyber experts, “passphrases might be more secure when unexpected words are used. Even if you are using common words, you can arrange them in an unusual order and make sure they are unrelated. There are also online services, that will help you check if a password is strong enough”.

Do not put personal information in your password

If you use personal information, such as birthdays, names of family members, pets, or your name in your passwords, then it makes for a very weak password. They can be cracked easily by the attacker with guesswork. Hence, make sure that you refrain from using personal information when making up the password.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for your services

While not directly related to password strength, enabling 2FA adds an extra layer of security. In case your password gets compromised, the person trying to take control of your online account would still need a second form of verification to access it.

Kaspersky informs that “modern password managers store 2FA keys and secure them with the latest encryption algorithms”.

Invest in a reliable cybersecurity solution for your devices

Using a reliable security solution gives you enhanced protection from cyber threats. It monitors the internet and the Dark Web and warns you to change the passwords if needed. So, make sure that your smartphones, laptops, tablets and PCs are protected 24/7 with a paid security solution.