This Is Why Your Passwords Should Contain At Least 8 Characters

There is a reason why most services ask for a specific number of characters for passwords, and even specific types of characters. If you’ve ever wondered why, well, a cybersecurity firm, Hive Systems, decided to share some more information.

Most of you probably assume that it’s for security reasons, which is a safe assumption, but the source did share more information about it. It revealed how long it can take the average hacker to figure out the passwords you use.

There is a reason why your passwords should contain at least 8 characters

This information may shock you. The firm said that if you’re using numbers alone, a hacker can discover your 4-11 character long password instantly. That is precisely why most services ask for a combination of different characters.

If you use only your lowercase letters for passwords, that’s also immensely easy for hackers to crack. Such passwords, in length between 4 to 8 characters, can also be cracked instantly, says Hive.

Passwords that are 9 characters long, and contain only lowercase letters, can be racked in 10 seconds by hackers. If you expand that to 10 characters, it takes them around 4 minutes, while an 11-character password with lowercase letters can be figured out in two hours.

Using a mix of lower and uppercase letters doesn’t help either. Such passwords of 4 to 6 characters can also be cracked instantly. Passwords that contain seven such characters can be racked in two seconds, while those that contain 8, 9, and 10 characters can be cracked in two minutes, one hour, and three days, respectively.

If you up that to 11 characters, of lowercase and uppercase letters, well, that will require around five months for a hacker to crack.

So, what if you add numbers to the mix as well, in addition to lowercase and uppercase letters? Well, it all depends on how long your passwords are. If they contain only 4-6 characters, that’s not safe at all, as they can be cracked instantly.

Use long passwords, with all types of characters

The best idea is to use long passwords that contain lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols. A ten-letter password with such characters takes a hacker about 5 months to figure out. If you up that to 11 characters, it will take him/her 34 years to crack. So, as you can see, the difference is shocking.

Hive Systems says that your password should never contain less than 8 characters, and that you should use a mix of numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and symbols.

The company also said that an 18-character password, using numbers, letters, and symbols would take up to 438 trillion years to be discovered by an average hacker. Take a look at the graph below for more information.