AI Tool PassGAN Can Crack Your Passwords in Seconds
Did you know that more than half of common passwords can be cracked in less than a minute with the help of AI? It’s true. While artificial intelligence can do amazing things like writing code and telling stories, it can also figure out your passwords. A new report released by Home Security Heroes shows how savvy AI tools like PassGAN can be used to crack common passwords in mere minutes.
How PassGAN Works
To determine how long it would take to crack 15,600,000 common passwords using artificial intelligence, Home Security Heroes enlisted the help of PassGAN. This tool is able to master password cracking by analyzing real passwords from actual leaks, rather than using manual processes. PassGAN relies on the GAN part to run on a neural network, which can analyze and learn from data to get smarter over time.
Cracking Common Passwords
PassGAN was able to crack 81% of all common passwords in less than a month, 71% in less than a day, 65% in less than an hour, and 51% in less than a minute. The length and complexity of a password both factor into their susceptibility towards cracking. PassGAN took a mere six minutes to crack a password with seven characters, even if it contained uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. And it only took three minutes to determine a 13-character password with only numbers.
Protecting Your Passwords
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect your passwords from being cracked by AI tools like PassGAN. Here are a few tips from Home Security Heroes:
- Use Strong Passwords: A long and complex password with at least 15 characters, including uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols is much more difficult to crack.
- Change Your Passwords Regularly: Changing your password periodically helps to protect against its use and abuse.
- Avoid Repeating Passwords: If you use the same password across multiple accounts, a hacker who obtains it for one site can use it to compromise your other accounts.
- Use a Password Manager: Password managers help you create, remember, and apply long and complex passwords for each account.
Protecting your passwords from being cracked by AI tools like PassGAN is crucial in today’s digital world. By following these tips and using a password manager, you can keep your passwords safe and secure.