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How Strong Are Your Passwords?

Posted on | March 27, 2007 |

[Via Lifehacker and One Man's Blog]

I’d like to think my passwords are pretty strong…that is, when I can remember what they are!

When I can, I create different passwords for each account and use letters, numbers and symbols (i.e.*@$!). But even with all my efforts, even passwords using all characters could eventually be broken.

Here’s a handy guide from the One Man’s Blog on how long it would take to crack your password:

Password Length All Characters Only Lowercase
3 characters
4 characters
5 characters
6 characters
7 characters
8 characters
9 characters
10 characters
11 characters
12 characters
13 characters
14 characters
0.86 seconds
1.36 minutes
2.15 hours
8.51 days
2.21 years
2.10 centuries
20 millennia
1,899 millennia
180,365 millennia
17,184,705 millennia
1,627,797,068 millennia
154,640,721,434 millennia
0.02 seconds
.046 seconds
11.9 seconds
5.15 minutes
2.23 hours
2.42 days
2.07 months
4.48 years
1.16 centuries
3.03 millennia
78.7 millennia
2,046 millennia

So, to be safe, make your passwords varied and extra long, if you can. Other password creating hints:

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