Scammers can crack almost half of the passwords analysed in less than a minute [Video]

In June 2024, Kaspersky (www.Kaspersky.co.za) experts conducted a large-scale study on the resistance of 193 million (M) English passwords, compromised by infostealers and available on the darknet, to brute force and smart guessing attacks. According to the research results (http://apo-opa.co/4cbmMOk), 45% of all analysed passwords (87M) could be guessed by scammers within a minute. Only 23% (44M) of combinations turned out to be resistant enough – cracking them would take more than a year. Furthermore, Kaspersky experts have revealed which character combinations were most commonly used in passwords.

Kaspersky telemetry indicates more than 32 million attempts to attack users with password stealers in 2023. These numbers show the importance of digital hygiene and timely password policies.

The results of the Kaspersky study demonstrate that the majority of the reviewed passwords were not strong enough and could be easily compromised by using smart guessing algorithms. Here is the breakdown of how fast it can …