AIs are a big threat to your password – here’s how to protect yourself

2023-04-18 23:08:13

Novel AIs can crack user passwords in under a minute. Read here how consumers can protect themselves.

experts of independent test portal “Home Security Heroes” warn that cracking passwords with artificial intelligence will be faster and easier. Criminals might take advantage of the new technologies and get sensitive data more easily.

Despite regular and urgent warnings, many people still rely on simple passwords. Last year, passwords like “123456” and “123456789” were among the most used in Germany. They are not difficult to crack even without AI.

The Home Security Heroes have now tested a software called PassGan. For this they used 15,680,000 common passwords. 51 percent were able to crack the software in less than a minute and 65 percent within an hour. For 71 percent, the AI-driven program took less than 24 hours. 81 percent had their password hacked within a month.

Secure passwords: The longer the password, the harder it is to crack

Password crackers have become much faster thanks to artificial intelligence.

Bild: Getty Images

According to the security experts, PassGan can determine a password of just seven characters, no matter how complex, within six minutes. Especially long passwords would help. They therefore recommend using passwords longer than 18 characters. These are currently safe from AI password crackers.

For a password of 18 digits, the program needs at least 10 months. And 6 quintillion years to crack passwords containing symbols, numbers, lowercase and uppercase letters. Even cybercriminals don’t have that much time.

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