The latest in cybercrime: free password cracker can now guess 55 character passwords

Trying to protect your business from cyber-attack has just become a bit more difficult with the improvements in free password cracker, ocl-Hashcat-plus. The new release makes it able to tackle passwords with up to 55 characters at speeds as high as eight billion guesses per second on almost unlimited number of compromised hashes.

Long passwords have become one the last line of defense against hackers and this new feature is unwelcome news.

How secure is your password?

Here’s a simple tool to find out how safe your password is.  Go to https://howsecureismypassword.net/ and type in type in your password and the site will let you know how long it takes to crack your password.  Common passwords like “Iloveyou” can be cracked instantly whereas a complex password such as Xc800vv%$32 will take four thousand years to crack!

Here is some simple advice to keep in mind when selecting a password:

1.  Length:  8 letters or longer is better

2.  Complexity:  A combination of numbers, symbols, lower and upper case letters

3.  Change:  Change your password every 90 days

4. Uniquness:  Use a different password for each site

5. Secrecy:  Don’t tell anyone your password or write it down