One of the most common methods of compromising private and company data is using compromised passwords. The attempt of a hacker to obtain your password is known as a password attack. In 2020, compromised passwords were the cause of 81% of data breaches. Password security is declining due to the few characters that can be used. To this day, and likely for the foreseeable future, hackers will continue using password attacks because they know many passwords are poorly designed out there.
Use the advice below to secure your passwords and prevent attacks.
Phishing
A hacker engages in phishing when they send an email claiming to come from someone they think you can trust in the hopes that you will provide personal information in response. Unfortunately, links in such messages often install malware on your device or take you to bogus “reset your password” screens.
To prevent phishing scams:
- Make sure the email’s sender is the person you expect it to be from by checking the From line to see if the address matches.
- If you doubt the authenticity of an email, you should contact the sender directly.
- If you are still determining whether or not an email you received is legitimate, you should contact your company’s IT department.
Brute Force Attack
If entering a password is like opening a door with a key, then a brute force attack is like smashing the door with a sledgehammer. A hacker can try 2.18 trillion password/username combinations in just 22 seconds if your password is super easy to guess.
To thwart brute-force attacks:
- The use of a strong password is highly recommended. The difference between a six-digit password with all lowercase letters and a ten-digit password with a wide variety of capitalization and particular character types is enormous.
- The likelihood of a password-cracking brute-force attack succeeding decreases directly to the password’s complexity.
- Facilitate and set up remote access. Contact IT if you’re curious about whether or not your company uses remote access management.
Man-in-the-Middle Attack
When a hacker or compromised system sits in between two otherwise uncompromised people or systems and deciphers the information they are passing to each other, including passwords, we call this a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack.
To help you in avoiding MITM attacks:
- Put your router’s security in a more secure setting. Anyone passing by your house could use “sniffer” technology to spy on the data transmitted through your modem and router if they have unrestricted access to your network.
- Implement two-factor authentication and use strong passwords. The default password and username for many routers are always the same. If a hacker can access your router’s administrative interface, they can reroute all of your traffic through compromised servers.
- Connect through a virtual private network. To protect yourself from man-in-the-middle attacks, use a virtual private network (VPN) that only connects to trusted servers.
Rainbow Table Attacks
Rainbow Table attacks are one of the most sophisticated and dangerous password attacks. It is a type of pre-computed attack, meaning that it uses an algorithm to guess a user’s password rather than attempting multiple random guesses. In this attack, hackers use a Rainbow Table, a list of predetermined hashes for all possible combinations of characters in a given length. The goal is to gain access to confidential data by guessing passwords using the data stored in the table.
To prevent Rainbow Table attacks:
- Use complex passwords that are not easily guessed or cracked through brute force.
- Enable two-factor authentication for additional protection when logging into accounts.
Need to know how to prevent your company from cyber attacks, set up a robust infrastructure, and prevent any potential data leakage? We can help you. Our seasoned team is here to offer a bunch of well-tailored solutions for your case to offer what you exactly need. So drop a message to us, or let’s chat right now.
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