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2021.10.19

Password Security + 10 Password Safety Tips

62% of organizations say they don’t take the necessary steps in properly securing mobile data. 13% of Americans reported reusing their password across all their accounts in 2019. Just 15% of Americans use an online password manager.

  • There are many ways for cybercriminals to hack the security passwords you took the time to dream up.
  • Industry analysts repeatedly point out that more than 80% of data breaches involve stolen credentials.
  • Cybercriminals are often looking for ways to access personal banking information or use ransomware to make themselves a profit.
  • Hackers have been diligent in ideating new techniques to steal your information, putting your data, privacy, and cybersecurity at risk.
  • The guide below provides 11 strong password ideas that will help you stay a step ahead of hackers.
  • Businesses and individuals within the U.S. lost nearly $4.2 billion to cybercrimes within the last year alone.
  • A total of 3.2 Billion such breached credentials are freely available on the web today.

Additionally, making password management convenient and accessible increases the likelihood that employees will use it. Not to be confused with password spraying, credential stuffing uses known passwords to gain access to account information. This differs from password spraying because the passwords tested during credential stuffing attacks are stolen credentials obtained in a previous data breach. On August 30, CISA added the use of single-factor authentication to the official bad practices list.

Compliance regulations vary greatly across sectors, and some industries are quicker to adopt and maintain appropriate security measures than others. For example, technology and software companies are often highly diligent in their cybersecurity defenses while insurance companies frequently trail behind. Yes, passwords using one single word are susceptible to dictionary attacks. Using a complex password with a variety of letters, numbers, and characters is a quick solution. 80 percent of data breaches involving hacking are connected to passwords.

Most internet users today aren’t aware of the importance of establishing secure and effective passwords, which leaves people vulnerable to the attacks of cybercriminals and hackers. The password statistics below reveal some major consequences of failed cybersecurity practices. To this end, cloud enterprise password management online users also need to follow new and innovative ways to create strong passwords that will keep their personal information protected. That’s where this complete guide to password security comes in. We’ll cover frequently asked questions, such as “How do I create a strong password?

Password Security And Data Breach Statistics

If someone successfully hacks the manager, password hashes would be useless without the decryption key, which is why sound key management is vital for these apps. Do not save your passwords in an online document, email, or note. Be solely based on personal data (name, surname, family member’s name, date of birth, workplace, favorite sports club, etc.). You can use an acronym to create a memorable yet effective password. For example, you can choose the phrase “My son was born at a Liverpool hospital in 2002” and take the first letter of each word () to create a solid and easy-to-remember password.

poor password practices

Hackers have been diligent in ideating new techniques to steal your information, putting your data, privacy, and cybersecurity at risk. When storing credentials in the database, mere hashing of passwords is https://globalcloudteam.com/ not enough. A strong hash function should be used in combination with a salt as part of the hashing process. This way even if a credential spill happens, hackers will have a tough time deciphering the data.

What Is Password Security?

Google said up to 100% of automated bot attacks were prevented, 99% of bulk phishing attacks and even 66% of ‘targeted attacks’ against account holders. For example, you can receive an email detailing a problem with your credit card account. The email directs to a link that leads to a login page on a phony website resembling your credit card company. If the victim falls for the trick, the hacker who created the false website receives the credentials on a silver platter.

We focused on these lists to ensure we included both cyber security experts and nonexperts in our sample. Overall, the sample represented a broad range of knowledge about cyber security issues. If someone steals or guesses your password, that person can easily bypass all other security measures protecting your data. The strong password ideas in this article can help keep you safe and ensure your passphrases never ends up in the wrong hands. 52% of data breaches were caused by malicious attacks, and each breach costs an average of $4.27 million.

poor password practices

A hacker found it on GitHub and used them to gain administrative access to Uber’s AWS instances resulting in the exposure of information belonging to 57 million customers. I happened to read a fascinating research titled “2021 Credential Stuffing Report” by F5 Labs. The report revolves around all aspects of stolen credentials, including theft, sale, and fraudulent usage.

How To Create A Strong Password With Examples

If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. Spyware was the top threat against small companies in 2020, followed closely by brute-force hacking and capturing stored data. Brute-forcing tools targeting the banking and financial industry are sold for an average of $74.30. 33% of employees in education use MFA and 32% of banking or financial employees use MFA. Only 45% of Americans say they would change their password after being hacked.

poor password practices

Hardcoding of credentials is a dangerous practice and all it requires is an accidental exposure to suffer a shocking breach. Participants were invited to take part in the study via professional association mailing lists. Moderators of the lists were contacted and asked to place a message on their list inviting their users to partake in our study. The lists appeared to have hundreds of users. One list focused on cyber security issues, and five lists focused on the arts or social sciences.

Why Is Password Security Important?

About 133,000 passwords of C-Level executives of many organizations have also been exposed. I reached out to someone who knows a fair bit about the role of passwords and authentication management when it comes to good security practice, Adam Caudill. With 20 years of experience in security and research, focusing on application security and secure communications, Caudill is currently the director of security at 1Password.

43% of Americans have shared their password with someone. Norton 360™ with LifeLock™, all-in-one, comprehensive protection against viruses, malware, identity theft, online tracking and much, much more. Yes, changing your password can prevent hackers from getting their hands on your sensitive information. 68 percent of business leaders feel their risk of experiencing a cyberattack is increasing. Change passwords regularly, at least once every few months. The average cost of a ransomware attack in 2020 was $4.44 million.

poor password practices

For organizations to become truly resilient against data breaches and cybersecurity attacks, a shift in behavior and practice is required—both from leadership and individual employees. Organizations can minimize security threats by implementing a system to monitor leaked employee credentials, company files and other information. As most of the users have the habit of reusing the same credentials across multiple sites , not just their personal accounts, but also corporate accounts face the risk of cyberattacks. Many business establishments face cyberattacks simply due to the password reuse practices of their employees. While the capabilities of cybercriminals continue to evolve, our password management habits and understanding of proper cybersecurity practices haven’t kept the same pace.

Passwords of corporate accounts should be randomized at periodic intervals – ideally once in 45 days or 90 days. It is reported that it takes a few months for hackers to exploit the stolen credentials. Periodic password randomization helps avoid credential abuse. Credential spill incidents have become too common nowadays and have been happening quite for some time. A total of 3.2 Billion such breached credentials are freely available on the web today. This includes over 25 million passwords belonging to the employees of Fortune 1000 companies, states a study by SpyCloud.

This is just a single case in point. Sometime back, Uber suffered a similar breach. An Uber employee had hardcoded the credentials in source code.

Data Breach Types, Costs And Root Causes

Given the statistics above, it’s clear that more attention should be paid to the vulnerabilities that exist in our password management habits. If you’re looking for ways to level up your security, implementing a cross-platform antivirus program that provides protection for all your devices is a great place to start. This paper specifically examined the type of person who is more likely to share passwords. We focused here on personality theory and work on the digital divide. The results reported in this paper are part of a much larger study that examined password decision making.

What Are The Safest Types Of Passwords?

If you do not want to remember a random sequence of words, you can make a password out of a custom phase. Words within a phrase flow together better than random words and are easier to remember, but you should not rely on a famous saying or a quote. Panda Security specializes in the development of endpoint security products and is part of the WatchGuard portfolio of IT security solutions. Initially focused on the development of antivirus software, the company has since expanded its line of business to advanced cyber-security services with technology for preventing cyber-crime.

As summarized below, one of our hypotheses was supported. A dictionary attack also tries substituting letters with symbols, such as 1 for an I or @ for an A. This cyberattack is the main reason why no security-aware person should use common words in their password. If you wish to protect your business from stolen identities and passwords, you can implement MFA via a specialized app your employees install on their smartphones. Google’s Authenticator and Authy are two great free options, both tools that generate a one-time PIN that serves as an additional factor during login.

The average cost of destructive malware attacks in 2020 was $4.52 million. Employees in the not-for-profit industry have the lowest number of reused passwords . On the lower end, only 20% of employees in legal or insurance businesses use MFA. Cybercriminals sell access to organizations’ key systems for an average of $3,139, and systems have been sold for up to $140,000.

What Are The Five Most Common Passwords?

However, the direction of the result was the opposite of what we hypothesized. Younger people were more likely to share passwords compared with older people. It would be interesting to learn more about with whom younger people are sharing passwords and why younger people are more likely to share passwords.

The total cost of a data breach in America was $8.64 million in 2020. 38% of Americans say they’ve lost time because of a data breach. 4 out of 10 Americans have had their personal data compromised online. Of those, 47% have lost money as a result.

Make passwords that are hard to guess but easy to remember. Crystal Stewart October 19, 2021This was actually great information to send out because I know people who use the same exact password for every single account they have no matter what it is.. What is good practice, no matter what kind of organization you are, and applies equally to individuals, is to multi-factor authenticate all the things. A keylogging virus watches every keyboard press you make, enabling a hacker to record your passwords . Learn how to prevent brute force attacks with 8 effective yet easy-to-implement tactics and precautions. Password managers keep passphrases safe with encryption.

57 percent of all companies have experienced a mobile phishing incident.

This goes for both consumers and businesses, as the statistics below reveal. As it turns out, maintaining the basics of cybersecurity best practices often has the biggest impact on avoiding the most common attacks. Organizations that require their employees to use MFA are far ahead of the curve than others when it comes to defending against attacks.