Protect Your Accounts From Getting Hacked

Passwords are the first line of defense against cyber criminals. It’s important to pick strong passwords that are different for each of your important accounts and to change them regularly.

It takes only 10 minutes to crack a lowercase password that is 6 characters long. Add two extra letters and a few uppercase letters and that number jumps to 3 years. Add just one more character and some numbers and symbols and it will take 44,530 years to crack.

Length: 6 characters – Lowercase only: 10 minutes, Lowercase and Uppercase: 10 hours, Lowercase, Uppercase, Numbers & Symbols: 18 days

Length: 7 characters – Lowercase: 4 hours, Lowercase and Uppercase: 23 days, Lowercase, Uppercase, Numbers & Symbols: 4 years

Length: 8 characters – Lowercase: 4 days, Lowercase and Uppercase: 3 years, Lowercase, Uppercase, Numbers & Symbols: 463 years

Length: 9 characters – Lowercase: 4 months, Lowercase and Uppercase: 178 years, Lowercase, Uppercase, Numbers & Symbols: 44,530 years

Using at least eight characters, including numbers, upper- and lower-case letters, and symbols if allowed. Avoid using personal info as part of your password. Also changing your password every other month. The longer and more obscure the password, the better.

See how long it would take a desktop PC to crack your password!