How is it that Hackers are able to figure out your password and gain access to your WordPress site? As you might imagine it’s not a simple process. Sometimes people (you better not be one of them) use simple passwords like “1234” or some other simple and virtually pointless password.
Below you’ll find some of the common approaches hackers use to get your their “hands” on your password. Also keep in mind that even if you are being careful with your passwords, hacking technology is always improving.
- Brute Force: You might not believe this but hackers have ways to run through millions of password combinations in short order. Now you might think that having limits on login attempts might prevent this but these folks have ways to do the job while being offline. Go figure.
- Password Breaches: This occurs when hackers are able to obtain a large number of passwords. They are then able to analyze how individuals are actually using passwords. They look for patterns and similarities so they can better understand how people come up with passwords. They can then update their software programs to take advantage of these discoveries.
- Being Tricky: Being tricky won’t really help you out. If you think you can replace some letter with a number (i becomes 8) think again. Every trick you can read about online the hackers can read as well and build that information into their software. In addition Password Breaches also give them this kind of data to better learn what tricks people use.
- Predictable: Do you realize how predictable people really are. We like to think we’re unique but there is so much in common that we are predictable is many ways. This predictability creates another way that hackers can figure out your password. Hackers will use all kinds of sources like dictionaries, Wikipedia, YouTube and the Gutenberg Project to find words that people use or might use in their passwords. So being predictable is a liability when it comes to passwords because it’s another avenue for hackers to get what they need to access your site.
- Variations: When you put some numbers on the end of your password like “coolpassword43” for example it doesn’t really make it harder for hackers. Here’s why this isn’t really harder, their brute force attack software allows them to try tons of variations with incredible speed.
Don’t get fooled or get lazy, the hackers are getting better all the time.
Whatever tricks and tips we come up with for more secure passwords, the hackers just respond accordingly and keep on cracking. It’s a losing battle of increasingly complex passwords that become more and more unusable.
You have to realize that passwords and security in general are continually changing. As you endeavor to use techniques that will give you the best passwords hackers will also create more advanced ways of figuring them out. Bottom line, it’s an ongoing battle.
But don’t despair. There are ways you can make passwords work.
No need to give up though. Just be as smart as you can when creating your passwords. We’ll cover how to create strong passwords soon.