Monica Reed

Photo: Canva

How long would it take a hacker to crack your password?

Are your passwords secure? A cyber security firm crunched some numbers and figured out how long it would take a hacker to crack ANY password.

In general, there are four things that affect how secure your password is: How long is it? Are the letters lowercase AND uppercase? Are there numbers too? And are there special characters, like an exclamation point? Here’s what they found . . .

1. ANY password that’s six characters or less can be cracked INSTANTLY now.

2. If your password is all lowercase letters, anything less than nine letters long can also be cracked immediately. Passwords like that don’t get fairly secure until 14 letters long. And only using numbers is even worse, so don’t do that.

3. If you use lower AND uppercase letters, it still needs to be 12 characters long to be somewhat secure. Ten characters can be cracked in three days . . . at 11, it’s five months . . . and at 12, it would take 24 YEARS to crack. Even if you add numbers and special characters to that, it still needs to be at least 11 characters long.

So what does a password need to look like to REALLY be safe? Well, it gets exponentially more secure as it gets longer. For example, a password with 18 characters . . . including all the stuff we mentioned . . . would take 438 TRILLION years to crack.

Pretty scary!!

 

News from ClarksvilleNow.com

yesterday in Crime, News

2 shot on Main Street in downtown Clarksville

Two people were shot Wednesday night in downtown Clarksville.

A man was shot in the 400 block of Ringgold Road on Sept. 30, 2025. (Dash 10 Media)

yesterday in Crime, News

UPDATE: Suspect in Ringgold Road fatal shooting turns himself in, booked into jail

A young man was shot Tuesday night on Ringgold Road in Clarksville, and despite an overnight search, the suspect remains at large.

yesterday in Business, Military, News

How does government shutdown affect Fort Campbell soldiers, employees?

The U.S. government has shut down as of Oct. 1, affecting federal workers across the country, including 30,100 Fort Campbell soldiers and 8,500 civilian employees on post.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivers remarks during a War Department address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., Sept. 30, 2025.

Tuesday in Military, News

Secretary of War Hegseth announces series of reforms, from fitness tests to shaving

Here’s what Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said about the 10 new directives that will be rolled out to Fort Campbell and soldiers across the armed forces.

Tuesday in News

Widened roads, safer fire stations: City Council prepares wish list for state legislature

The city’s 2026 legislative agenda focuses on road projects, fire department upgrades and stricter code enforcement.