Yikes…fxz4319ldos? ANOTHER password to remember?!!?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Everything needs an online password these days!. Preferably a strong one, to ward off cyber criminals. But who’s to judge what makes a password STRONG?
Enter Steven Furnell from the University of Plymouth. He assessed the effectiveness of meters that gauge password strength on major websites.
Furnell tested over fifteen password meters unique to each website by typing in commonly used BAD passwords. Examples? A-B-C-one-two-three – i love you – or even just… PASSWORD.
Results? TWENTY PERCENT of the meters deemed the easily guessable passwords acceptable. This suggests that not all meters are created equal. Furnell believes inconsistent security standards can mislead users to make hackable passwords. And there goes your Bitcoin stash!
Furnell’s advice? Use the random computer-generated passcodes! His study found that they’re consistently rated as strong.
Guess I’ll be changing my Netflix password from “SandrasNetflix” to…something stronger.