On the internet total security is a chimera. But things can be difficult for cyber criminals. Having a secure password, on social networks and other digital platforms, is the first step for this. Something that many users, still today, do not pay too much attention. This is demonstrated, without going any further, that “123456” and “123456789” were the keys most frequently filtered by the attackers in 2019. Only the first one – the most common – has ever been used by 3% of Internet users, according to the Ranking of the Worst Passwords of 2019, published by the cybersecurity company Splashdata a few months ago. The report also argues that almost 10% of users have used some of the worst 25 possible keys.
When we register in a space, and prepare to create a password, experts recommend not being predictable. This happens by not repeating keys that we have already used in other portals or personal information easy to decipher. «A good password must be of considerable length and intelligible. The user must never use a word that has to do with him, such as his month of birth or his name. You should also have numbers, letters and special signs, such as asterisks or dollar symbols, ”Cybersecurity expert Deepak Daswani told ABC a few months ago.
Having a weak password is not only a risk for the data of private users. It also affects companies, as they remember from the company Entelgy Innotec Security. «Having strong passwords is a fundamental factor for both business organizations and the user. The information behind a password is very important. Therefore, when creating a password, it must be as secure and robust as possible, ”said Félix Muñoz, CEO of Entelgy Innotec Security, in a statement.
One of the most basic and used by attackers when stealing password is brute force attacks. By using software, the offender uses a wide variety of possible character combinations until he finds the correct password. «Performing a brute force attack is very simple. If a password is based on a numerical code you just have to make all the possible combinations to end up with the correct one and, thus, access the social network ”, explains Eusebio Nieva, technical director of the cybersecurity company to this newspaper Check Point for Spain and Portugal.
«To protect against such an attack, the most important thing is to use a mnemonic key when creating the password. On the one hand, you can choose to have a “password” that is difficult even to remember. In such cases, a manager should be used or techniques used to remember them, such as using a book title or phrase, inserting between half numbers and symbols and capital letters. Another option is to use a phrase as long as possible and replace the vowels with numbers, ”says Nieva.
How to create a password step by step
Remember that the most important thing is not to be obvious. Avoid personal information, such as birth dates and names, simple numerical codes (“1234567”, “1111111”) and do not repeat the passwords on different platforms. It is also recommended to change the password with some regularity.
1.- Choose a title, or phrase, from a book, song or movie that is easy for you to remember. Eusebio Nieva puts as an example “In a place of La Mancha”.
2.- Alter the characters of the sentence and add numbers and symbols: «eN3A $ Place% De @ lamanchA &».
3.- For more security, you can extend the sentence and directly replace the vowels, or the consonants, with numbers and symbols. In this case it may be more difficult to remember the «password», so it would be advisable to use a password manager: «! N # nl% g / rd) l @ m ~ nch €» «eN3A $ Place% De @ lamanchA & dE & Cuyo = name “No% want! remember” ».
