When setting a password to a computer or service , we make big mistakes that make it very easy for attackers, as shown by the fact that some of the most used in the world are as simple as “password”, ” qwerty” or “123456”.
Strengthening the security of our passwords is key to avoiding unpleasantness and Kingston has a suggestion to strengthen them and, incidentally, make them easier to remember.
Increase the security of your private keys
Instead of traditional passwords, there is a much stronger formula to improve the security of an account: passphrases . This technique allows you to write up to 64 characters (in some cases even more) as a password, being able to put a phrase that you like, a part of a song, a mathematical formula or a saying, for example.
Kingston, who have a line of encrypted hardware devices called IronKey , which includes several terminals that have a passphrase option to protect the information inside, such as the IronKey VP 50 and IronKey VP 80, recommend using of this security technique to make it more difficult for them to decipher our password.
“Passphrases are a great improvement over traditional passwords, as they are easier to remember and harder to guess thanks to their length,” says Jordi García, Kingston’s business director in Spain. “From our catalog of devices I would like to highlight the IronKey VP 50, which has the option of having several passwords for different users and thus being able to access the system from different ways and not lose information. In turn, it includes the option of having a security question to be answered with a passphrase. On the other hand, the company SySS, an external company that does security tests, has awarded it with the “Approved Security” certification, an award that reinforces the security of our device.
The three big advantages of passphrases
Switching from the traditional password, of about 6 to 10 characters, to passphrases has a number of advantages in addition to increasing the length of the passphrase. The main one is that, despite increasing this length, they are actually easier to remember than a semi-random combination of numbers, letters, and special characters. By being able to put a phrase that we remember, part of the lyrics of a song, a literary text or something that we like, it will be easier for us not to forget each time we have to write it manually.
The second major improvement is that it will be harder for attackers to guess. Users make it really easy for hackers to be able to decipher our passwords if we take into account that the Top 3 of the most used are still “password”, “123456” or “123456789”. Cracking a password using brute force takes time directly proportional to the length of the password.
In their most recent research on password security, Hive Systems found that any 8-character password can be cracked in less than an hour using brute force. Also, any password that contains fewer than seven characters can be cracked instantly. An 18-character combination of numbers, uppercase, lowercase, and symbols would not be able to be cracked by brute force in less than 438 billion years with current technology. Putting in a passphrase, even if it’s just based on letters, is exponentially much more complicated.
Finally, we have compatibility with operating systems , since the most used and popular in the world, such as Windows, Mac or Linux, already offer their users the possibility of establishing passwords of up to 127 characters.
