How long does it take a hacker to hack your password?

World Password Day is celebrated on May 6. Used for years to protect accounts of all kinds on the Internet, it is now increasingly criticized for its ease of identification or even theft, especially by those who use “azerty” or “123456”. But with the right combination of numbers, letters, and symbols, it’s really very difficult for a hacker to crack your password.

A study by Hive Systems, a company specializing in computer security systems, highlights the best practices to adopt to avoid easily hackable passwords through an infographic that indicates how long it takes a hacker to find your password. To carry out this study, the company assumes that the hacker is equipped with a desktop computer with a basic graphics card.

Minimum 11 characters

Thus, in 2023, using a password of 8 characters (the minimum required on most platforms) or less is synonymous with golden eggs for hackers. In fact, they can recover the famous sesame in a maximum of 5 minutes, or even instantly if you use a password that contains only numbers, lowercase letters or less than 6 characters.

To start being able to boast of having a “strong” password, you will need a minimum of 11 characters, including numbers, upper and lower case letters as well as symbols. Again, it will not be infallible but it will take the hacker about 3 years to crack it.

getting easier

If you want to be sure that a hacker can’t find your password, the best solution is to opt for a password with mixed characters and with at least 17 characters. Therefore, the hacker will need “only” about 380 billion years to crack it.

Hive Systems, which has produced this infographic for several years, however specifies that it is always faster and faster to hack a password. In 2020, a password of 8 characters with uppercase letters, lowercase letters, symbols and numbers could be found in 8 hours. In 2023, it only takes… 5 minutes.