Protecting Your Passwords in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Tips to Avoid Brute-Force Attacks

Password protection, as you may have heard countless times, is critical to safeguarding our passwords for the safety of sensitive information. Yet, it is important to note that hacking techniques have only gotten more efficient and effective. While Artificial Intelligence has had a great impact in making users' work processes easier, it can also be used for harm.

We posted an article a few weeks ago about how AI has become so powerful that it passed a CAPTCHA test, bypassing the security procedure when logging into an account. However, there are other AI tools that have been created to surpass security boundaries. Artificial intelligence can now be used to brute force passwords and gain access to user accounts.

One such tool, PASGan, has been developed specifically to crack user passwords.

Here are a few facts:

• This AI tool was able to crack 51% of passwords in one minute
• 65% of passwords were cracked in less than an hour
• 71% of passwords were cracked in less than a day
• According to a cybersecurity firm study, common passwords are susceptible to AI tools.

As Artificial Intelligence continues to exceed human capabilities, it's important to remain vigilant in protecting passwords.

How to protect from brute-force attacks.

• Ensure your passwords are 12 characters, including upper/lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. As you can see in the image below, it takes only 25 seconds to crack a 12-character password made up only of numbers. It also shows that while it takes three weeks to break a 12-character password made up of numbers and lowercase letters, it takes 289 years if you add a capital letter into the mix.
  

  CBSNews

• Avoid using the same password.
• Use Two-Factor Authentication as an extra layer of security.
• Avoid using personal information, especially that can be found on social media (such as birthdays, family members' names, hobbies, etc.).
• Use a password management software like 1password.com to manage complex passwords.

Overall, with the evolution of powerful AI tools such as this one, it is imperative to safeguard all passwords. Ensure you take the proper steps to avoid brute-force attacks as much as possible. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us!