AI can crack your passwords, here’s how to protect yourself. Along with the positives of new generative AI services come new risks as well. PassGAN is an AI-based system for cracking passwords. Here’s how to protect yourself.
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Using the latest AI, PassGAN was able to crack 51% of passwords in less than a minute with 71% of passwords cracked in less than a day.
This new study shows how scary the latest generative AI is in cracking passwords. Home Security Heroes used the new password cracker PassGAN (password generative adversarial network) to compile a list of over 15,000,000 credentials from the Rockyou dataset, and the results were staggering.
51% of all common passwords were cracked in less than a minute, 65% in less than an hour, 71% in less than a day, and 81% in less than a month.
The reason AI is making such a difference in password cracking is that instead of having to manually parse passwords against databases of leaked data, PassGAN is able to “autonomously learn to distribute real passwords from leaks”. of effective passwords”.
How to protect yourself from AI?
By making sure you use at least 12 characters or more with uppercase and lowercase letters plus numbers (or even symbols), you’ll make an important distinction between instantly or quickly cracked passwords and those that are difficult to crack.
All passwords with 18 characters that include both letters and numbers were found to be safe from AI cracking, for now.
Seeing how powerful AI can be at cracking passwords is a good reminder not only to make sure you use strong passwords, but also to check the security of your accounts:
- Are you using 2FA/MFA (non-SMS based when possible)
- You are not reusing passwords between accounts
- Use automatically generated passwords whenever possible
- Update your passwords regularly, especially for sensitive accounts
- Refrain from using public WiFi, especially for bank accounts and the like
There is a tool on the Home Security Heroes website that allows you to test your passwords against AI. The company claims that anything you type is not saved or shared, and we have no reason to doubt it. However, as a precaution, it is safer not to enter any of your real passwords: if you want to try the AI password analyzer, enter a random one.
