A brute force attack occurs when a hacker tries many passwords in the hope of eventually guessing correctly.
Interestingly, a 7-character password with numbers, upper, and lowercase letters can be cracked by a hacker in about 7 seconds.
Compare that with an 18-character password with numbers, symbols, upper, and lowercase letters, which would take 438 trillion years for a hacker to crack.
I certainly can’t remember different 18-character passwords for all my different online accounts, so for the last 5 years I’ve been using LastPass to automate all my password generation, storage, and management.
Many people still create and manage passwords the same way they did 15 years ago, whereas the sophistication of malicious actors has advanced lightyears since then. It may seem like overkill, but recovering hacked accounts is a headache I certainly don’t want to deal with.
I found the below graphic helpful in putting into context the importance of proper internet and account security.
