“Can’t I have a simpler password?” Forgive us for resorting to and mangling clichés, but if our Geelong website development team had a dollar for every time we’re asked that question in relation to websites and other online accounts, the GOOP Digital team would be enjoying a handsome bonus every second week.
In the past few days we even had a nationally recognised retailer asking us to provide a simple password to a GOOP Digital client’s website because the one we’d set was much too hard for the big chain’s staff to remember. The password they wanted was along the lines of “insert name 1234”. We said no.
Another time a client asked for a simple password because, according to him, he wasn’t high profile and nobody would be interested in hacking into his site. His name and birthday would be good, he thought. Again we said no.
And here’s why.
Hackers aren’t necessarily overweight social recluses who sit in dark rooms wolfing down junk food while using nothing more than brainpower and a desktop computer to break into websites, although those people do exist. We’ve met some! We might’ve even worked with some!
Hackers, in many instances, are people who create or oversee automated programs that use complex algorithms to throw countless combinations of words, numbers and symbols at online accounts until hitting on the right formula to gain access. Once in, the hacker’s program can set about wreaking whatever havoc it’s designed to inflict.
As for knowing who you are or what you do, in most instances the hackers won’t know or care, they just want access to gather whatever opportunities you present online, whether it’s to publish subversive messages on a website or empty a bank account.
Secret passwords are secret for a reason – they’re to protect important information and need to be hard to break. If you can’t remember your passwords, use a password manager, try mnemonics (look it up!), go old school and write them down in a disguised fashion and keep them somewhere safe and secure or create phrases from sentences you’ll remember.
There are plenty of websites with advice about the need for complex passwords and just as many sites recommending password managers. We’d suggest looking into some of them – LastPass, Dashlane 4, Password Boss, the list goes on. You’re online already – go and have a look.
And while you’re cruising the web, maybe check out the How Secure Is My Password website, or similar, just to see how secure your password is and how long it would withstand an online attack.
The password the big business we mentioned earlier – “name 1234” – would have withstood an automated password attack for a only few minutes. The one GOOP Digital recommended would have stood up for six years. Point proven!
If you’d like to know more about secure passwords, contact our web development team in Geelong and we’ll be happy to help.