Pathetic vs. Powerful Passwords: Your Hackable Future?

The Buzz: “Passwords are an integral component of security hygiene, but beyond password strength requirements, it’s largely a user-driven initiative” (digitalguardian.com). How is your password hygiene? Not to get personal, but passwords are our first line of protection against cyber criminals, so password health matters. Digital Guardian surveyed 1,000 people’s password security habits. 44% changed passwords once a year or less, 11% never. 20% experienced online account compromise. 70% had 10+ password-protected accounts online, nearly 30% had “too many to count”. In the U.S., the average email address is associated with 130 accounts. And password cracking is easy with tools like John the Ripper and social engineering that manipulates us into divulging confidential info. We’ll ask four experts – Matt Beckert at NPI, Erich Kron at KnowBe4, Michael DePalma at Datto, Alex Reid at Green Cloud Technologies – for their take on Pathetic vs. Powerful Passwords: Your Hackable Future?