

We’d still recommend making a password mildly complex, however.Įach character in a password can either be a lowercase letter, an uppercase letter, a number, or a special character like %. Some experts we’ve talked to say that you can stop right there. (If a password has been associated with your username before, however, you’re much more vulnerable.) Unless an attacker is looking specifically for you, a massive password breach still offers you the anonymity of being just one of many potential targets. This chart illustrates how just adding a few more characters to a password can make the time necessary to crack it almost impossibly long, even with multiple GPUs. Terahash / TwitterĬompanies like Terahash can combine several hundred GPUs to create powerful password hash-cracking solutions that can break short passwords instantly.

Breaches expose these passwords in hashed form anyone with access can to try and guess your password, using computer power to try billions of guesses per second. As the chart below (developed by professional password-cracking company Terahash) shows, you’ll need at least ten characters in your password to make it secure, and longer is always better. You’d be amazed at how quickly simple passwords can be cracked…as well as the months and years it can take to crack more complex ones. (Microsoft uses your Windows password to store passwords within Edge, while Google uses the password you’ve associated with Gmail.) Even if you have just that one password, it needs to be a good one. Password managers and browsers still need one master password that unlocks the passwords stored within.
