Popular Science Australia - 01.04.2018

POPSCI.COM.AU 61

EASY AS 1,2,3

Your

Password

Sucks

YOU MIGHT THINK YOUR INFORMATION IS SAFE, BUT YOU’ RE PROBABLY

wrong. Your password is pitted against malevolent computers capable of

crunching billions of character conigurations a minute. And what used to

be the best tricks are now so commonly used, they’re useless. Mom’sname

followed by digits and dollar signs? That’s so turn-of-the-century. You can’t

beat every potentia lhack, but these tips will help ightoffour common

methods of attack—as long as you never use the same code twice.

by Eleanor Cummins / illustration by Hubert Tereszkiewicz

EASY TO GUESS

TOO COMMON

DICTIONARY DISASTER

sciencesince1872!

popsci01

ILoveLaika

PASSWORD

PERFECTION

smart

tfm105010535100

Magazine

Intelligence01

Science

Love!

SmartSecurity99

lol

Aardvark420

IT’S PERSONAL

Guessing: the original

hack. If someone

knows certain things

about you—your date

of birth, your dog’s

name, your home-

town—cracking your

codes can be

criminally simple.

SIZE MATTERS

In a brute-force

attack, computers will

process every possible

character combo in

the English language

(aa, ab, ac) until they

hit your jackpot. You’re

especially vulnerable

to this if you pick

something short.

1O$W0RDZ

A slightly slower

method involves ol’

Merriam-Webster.

From aardvark all the

way to zyzzogeton, a

cybersleuth can work

through every word in

the dictionary. Tacking

digits to the end won’t

help—hackers caught

on to this long ago.

SERIOUSLY?

Common words are

like a welcome mat

for hackers. Malicious

programs can quickly

cycle through

everyday English

vocab until they find a

match. Just one more

reason why your

password should

never be “password.”

THE TWO OPTIONS TO THE RIGHT AREN’T INDESTRUCTIBLE,

but certain characteristics make them hard to crack. Sprinkling numbers

and capital letters throughout ensures the first option is somewhat

secured. Our second pick uses three or more uncommon words—

unrelated to our lives!—for a solid, simple Plan B. Ridley Scott fans who

study bug faeces for a living will obviously need to workshop other options.

popUlar1872SCIence!

PoopButterlyPrometheus

Password:

PHOTOGRAPH BY THE VOORHES

SMASHED BY BRUTE FORCE

Charted