User password is a very important element in any data protection and access control software. You need to know that the data protection programs based on encryption work on the encryption key basis, that is in turn generated from your password.
So we would like to mention here just a few widespread suggestions on how to choose strong enough but easy to remember passwords. But before we list it, here is a table that demonstrates how the actual password cracker program works.
| Password length | Time to break – if your password contains only small English letters (26 characters) | Time to break – if your password contains small and big letters, digits and spaces (63 characters) |
| 5 symbols | 1 hour 30 min. | 6 days |
| 6 | 1 day 10 h. | 1 year |
| 7 | 45 days | 65 years |
| 8 | 3.1 years | 4022 years |
| 9 | 89 years | 251000 years |
| 10 | 2303 years | … |
| … | … | … |
The results of Brute Force attack to crack AES245 encrypted string calculations using Pentium 4, 1.8 GHz, 512 cache.
Strong password principles
- The password should have not less than 7 characters
- It should be random, without any meaning
- Use UPPER case and lower case letters in your password
- Use special characters like these: _,&,~,(,.
So the ideal password should look like this: Usa24_JD
(legend: Usa-smth. you like, 24 – smb. age, JD-smth. abbreviature).
Strong but not for human?
It is not true when they say that security improves as password complexity increases. In reality, complex passwords that comply with the above list of “security-enhancing” principles lead to one outcome: Users write down their passwords. Security is better increased by designing for how people actually behave.
Here are some of our tips to make your password hard to guess and easy to remember for you:
- Make it with two meanings only for you
For example: “My first PC hard drive capacity” + “my favorite PC game”
In this case the password would be: “500banjo”. - Use big letters, small letters and numbers
To follow this rule, modify your password as: “500_Banjo”. - Define a password hint to prevent from being forgotten
To follow this rule set up a hint like: “My first PC hard drive capacity _&_ my favorite PC game “.
Despite all of these tips you may define a long, complex password for Windows and store it on USB flash drive for system access in order not to always type the password.
How to use a long and secure password but without any efforts to remember it?
The answer is Two-factor authentication (or USB keys).
Rohos Logon Key is a computer security program that is specifically designed to strengthen the security of the Windows computer logon process – you can use a long password, but you don’t need to type it in order to log in.
Learn more…