How A “Hacker” Breaks Your Passwords

First off, I don’t like using the word hacker as a negative term since technically it is not, but since it is the media term for a “bad computer person” I will make an exception in this case.

There is a really good article which everyone should read titled “How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords” which goes into some detail about ways your passwords could be compromised. While everyone preaches about strong passwords, I can tell you from a system admin’s perspective, in reality it just doesn’t happen.

Consider this:

Another thing to keep in mind is that some of the passwords you think matter least actually matter most. For example, some people think that the password to their e-mail box isn’t important because “I don’t get anything sensitive there.” Well, that e-mail box is probably connected to your online banking account. If I can compromise it then I can log into the Bank’s Web site and tell it I’ve forgotten my password to have it e-mailed to me. Now, what were you saying about it not being important?

The media and ID theft protection agencies love to though scary statistics at you, but in reality if you just protect yourself using a few simple steps (strong passwords, shred sensitive papers, don’t click on login links from emails, etc.) you should have better protection than “watch guard” company can offer.

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David M
How does a hacker get around websites that require you to get a new password by email after three unsuccessful attempts?

Vertimyst
Well, ‘hackers’ don’t always randomly guess at passwords. They use phishing and similar methods such as keyloggers to obtain the password from an unsuspecting user. That way they can get in immediately.
The article mentions that hackers can use your email account to access your banking information via a password reset request. Another method would be to run a keylogger on a public system (such as in a library or hotel – some hotels have a computer center in their lobby with computers for guests), record, for example, the user’s facebook password, and then use that password to access the user’s email account or any other number of services. That’s why it’s important to use a different password for everything, not just the same one, even if it might be easier to remember. Unfortunately, I’m guilty of not using my own advice.

bob
I don’t think it’s that easy to get into a bank account online…yes the hacker could go to my banking site but they would then have to enter a name & password to get in.