What every small business owner should know about passwords

How long would it take to crack your favourite password?

Easy to remember passwords like Password, admin, 12345, password123, are all examples of passwords so commonly used that cyber criminals can guess them and access your account pretty much instantly. This table will show you how long it will take for a someone to guess your password using a brute-force attack. Using an automated program, which anyone can get hold of, they just run through a list of the most common passwords — and often they are successful. This is why basic or short passwords can be guessed instantly.

Aim to end up in the green area

We all need to aim to end up in the green area, making it practically impossible for our accounts to be accessed illegally via a brute-force attack. If you can maintain a unique password ‘in the green’ for every account, it is extremely unlikely that it can be guessed.

You might think it is impossible to remember passwords that are this complicated, especially for every account but there are ways you can do this easily.

Password managers such as Dashlane, 1Password, and Lastpass can keep all of your passwords safe in one secure place. That way you don’t have to remember hundreds of complicated passwords, just one! A password manager will also generate strong passwords for you. If you're not ready to try a password manager, passphrases are more secure. For example, the password ‘greenbeans’ can be cracked instantly according to the table. But, turning this into a passphrase such as Gr€€n-B€@n$-Gr0w-Quick!, is easy for you to remember but impossible for anyone with bad intention or even an automated program to guess

Test your password strength using this handy tool

https://www.security.org/how-secure-is-my-password/