Researchers analyzing real-world passwords leaked on the dark web had a shocking discovery. Their analysis revealed they can crack around 59% of these passwords within an hour. They can do this using a modern graphics card and a little technical knowledge.
The discovery underscores the weakness of many real-world passwords. It also highlights the effectiveness of password cracking using brute-force attacks.
What is Password Cracking?
Password cracking means retrieving an original password from its hashed form. Passwords were all stored in plain text before. This made them vulnerable to virus attacks. Today’s systems have improved security. Companies are now using hashing algorithms to convert passwords into unique hash values.
Many systems today also use password hashing with salt to improve security. Salt refers to a random data string. This technique integrates salt before applying a hashing function. It creates a unique password-salt combination for each user.
How Easy Is It to Crack Passwords?
The best researchers at Kaspersky found that many passwords are vulnerable to cracking. These experts used a combination of brute-force and smart-guessing algorithms in their analysis. They cracked 45% of passwords in less than a minute. Their smart-guessing algorithms did this by prioritizing common character combinations.
Password cracking algorithms take advantage of human nature to guess combinations. People are predictable. They have favorite phrases, dates, and patterns. This makes them vulnerable to attacks.
Modern GPUs also make it easier to crack passwords. A powerful CPU can crack an 8-character password in 7 minutes. A GPU with 164 GH/s can do it in 17 seconds. Hackers don’t even need to buy a top-of-the-line GPU. They can rent them for a few hours.
