In our second week of Cybersecurity Awareness, we are going to cover the use of strong passwords and passphrases. Creating a strong password is based upon two key concepts:
- Length
- Complexity
The more characters a password has, the harder it is to guess, crack, or break into. We can see in the chart’s column on the left, as the number of characters increases, so does the time it takes for a computer to guess the password. Given enough time, any computer could crack our passwords. However, our goal is to make passwords complex enough that computers, and the hackers behind them, cannot reasonably decipher them.
At Jordan, we focus particularly on password length to help us all stay secure. Using Passphrases is the key to secure passwords with length requirements. Passphrases help users to create and remember long passwords with excellent password strength without writing the password down, something that should never be done. An example of a passphrase would be Applebannanapineapple.
We also recommend password manager programs. Some good options are 1Password, LastPass, Bitwarden, or Dashlane. These are programs and browser extensions that work independently from your Google or browser account. These programs will create randomly generated passwords and manage what sites and accounts each password belongs to.
It may be tempting to reuse the same passwords used previously. We should avoid doubling back on previously used passwords or using passwords for other applications and sign-ons. If an attacker learns one of your passwords for your various logins, and you have used that password before, they will try that password across multiple applications and logins. If you use the same password on other applications, it will give the attacker access to as many applications that use that login. Under no circumstances should you share any passwords with students or staff members.
| Number of Characters |
Lowercase Letters Only |
At least one uppercase letter |
At least one uppercase letter + number |
At least one uppercase letter + number + symbol |
| 1 | Instantly | Instantly | – | – |
| 2 | Instantly | Instantly | Instantly | – |
| 3 | Instantly | Instantly | Instantly | Instantly |
| 4 | Instantly | Instantly | Instantly | Instantly |
| 5 | Instantly | Instantly | Instantly | Instantly |
| 6 | Instantly | Instantly | Instantly | Instantly |
| 7 | Instantly | Instantly | 1 minute | 6 minutes |
| 8 | Instantly | 22 minutes | 1 hours | 8 hours |
| 9 | 2 minutes | 19 hours | 3 days | 3 weeks |
| 10 | 1 hours | 1 month | 7 months | 5 years |
| 11 | 1 day | 5 years | 41 years | 400 years |
| 12 | 3 weeks | 300 years | 2,000 years | 34,000 years |