Passwords You Should Never Use and Why

Recovering a hacked account is equivalent to hacking the account if the platform you are using does not provide a working account recovery method.

Remember, the term hacking has the original meaning of someone who kept hacking a problem until it was resolved.

So, recovering your account when it is hacked is never a go-and-take-over kind of mission. It requires a process strong enough to break the hacker’s password and set-ups.

Prevention, they said, is better than cure. Making your online accounts vulnerable by using a weak password is like handing over your account to someone else who knows how to protect it better than you do.

If you want your online account to last in your hands, you should try and avoid the following types of passwords:.

1. All Numbers Type of Password.

Avoid using only numbers as your password. Whether it is your phone number or a combination of numbers, just avoid it. Such a password is very cheap to crack through a computer brute force attack.

2. Combination of known words or names with numbers.

Passwords like John23 or 38home can easily be guessed using brute force and dictionary attacks.

By dictionary attack, a bad actor will run your account through a collection of possible combinations of passwords collected from previous hacks and guesses.

3. Short Passwords

Using short passwords with 4 to 11 digits or letters long is always very easy to crack. These passwords are the cheapest for a brute force attack, especially when they have a common pattern of character.

Using a very long password, like a passphrases or a sequence of words or other texts, is very beneficial.

A weak password is one of the reasons why many online accounts is hacked.

Before your own account is tested using brute force and gets hacked, try and change your password if it falls into the above categories.

Related Post: Stop Using Password to Lock your Windows 10, Use PIN… This is Why.

As you are creating your next password, make sure it meets up the following criteria:.

1. It must not be less than 12 characters long. The longer your password, the better. Better still, use a passphrase.

2. If you want to combine numbers and words, you should not use your name and numbers or a known dictionary word and numbers. Use words that are not common with numbers.

3. Remember to also add special characters like #@.₦&_- and uppercase letters to your password character combinations.

Remember, the longer the better. The strongest type of password is the one with a combination of characters/alphabets, special characters, lower and uppercase letters, and numbers mixed together), and it is long.

Don’t make your account too vulnerable to hackers by the type of passwords you use.

Also, remember to turn on an additional layer of security, like two-factor authentication.

You can drop your own password tips in the comment box.