68pc of passwords can be cracked within a day: report

Firstly, 68 per cent of modern passwords can be cracked within a day. Secondly, the vast majority of compromised passwords either begin or end with a digit — a common habit that makes them vulnerable to brute-force attacks. Thirdly, users often rely on positive or trending words in their passwords. For example, the use of the word “Skibidi” in analysed passwords increased 36-fold over the past few years, reflecting the rise of the internet trend. “In recent years, secure password rules have become a widely discussed topic. More and more services now require passwords that are at least 10 characters long, include an uppercase letter, and contain a number or symbol. Yet a comparative analysis of leaked passwords from recent years shows that even following some of these rules does not guarantee protection against brute-force or AI-driven attacks,” the Kaspersky report noted. “Among leaked passwords containing only one symbol, the ‘@’ sign is the most common, appearing in 10pc of cases. The next most common symbol is a dot (.), found in 3pc of passwords. Numbers also follow predictable patterns: 53pc of examined passwords end with digits, 17pc begin with digits, nearly 12pc contain a numeric sequence resembling a date (from 1950 to 2030), and 3pc include keyboard sequences such as ‘qwerty’ or ‘ytrewq’. However, most commonly used patterns are numeric sequences like ‘1234’,” the report stated. Alexey Antonov, Data Science Team Lead at Kaspersky, noted that commonly used symbols, numbers, or dates — especially when placed in obvious positions such as the beginning or end of a password — significantly simplify brute-force attacks for cybercriminals. “That is why it is highly recomm