Top 5 Password Stealing Tactics and Defending Yourself

We often see cases of hacked computers or smartphones because someone has been able to access users' passwords or because their data has been leaked on the Internet due to a security breach. In extreme cases there is not much to do, but it is important that you know the main methods currently used to discover and steal the passwords of others. This way you can get a much better sense of how to defend yourself and avoid such a situation. That's why we've broken down the 5 most commonly used password theft tactics below. Check out!

1. Common Combinations

The most common and often always successful tactic is to use common combinations when entering a password. Hackers often have a list of all the commonly used passwords around the world, which are usually "abcde", "12345", "777777", "password", "qwerty", etc.

Our tip is to always research the most used combinations in the world when creating a password and avoid them as much as possible. This information is usually released annually by security and antivirus companies, for example.

2. Complex Combinations

When a common combination does not work, hackers set out to use more complex passwords. This usually involves numbers, letters and symbols mixed in several ways.

This takes a lot more work and not everyone will have the patience to make such an attack if there is no certainty of benefit behind the password in question. Still, they will try combinations such as “q2w3e4r5t”, “zxcvbnm” and “qwertyuiop”.

To avoid this, create even more complex passwords, with upper and lower case letters, numbers, and various mixed symbols. The more unlikely your password is, the harder it will be for someone to guess it.

3. Phishing

Another common tactic is Phishing, which consists of those emails that pass through a social network (like Facebook), an online service or even your bank. They do this to encourage you to sign in to your account, which automatically gives them your username and password at the same time.

Recently, an email from PayPal began to appear with the message: "Your account has been accessed from a different computer, click here to change your password and keep your account secure." It's easy to leave a person desperate with such an email, which would not even make them doubt its authenticity at the first moment and put their password, credit card and bank account at risk.

Our recommendation is never to click on this type of email, however urgent it may seem. First of all, do a search for the exact message you received and verify the email address. In a few minutes it is possible to find out if it is a case of Phishing or not.

4. Personal Information

There is no worse enemy when creating your password than using parts of your personal information in it. Entering names, combinations of important dates, addresses, or even birthdays is the equivalent of asking someone to break into your accounts at some point.

Anyone who does a little research about you on the internet can gain access to this information, either through data released by Google or Facebook. Therefore, avoid any combination that refers to something in your personal life.

5. Malware

Finally, we have one of the most obvious and most effective tactics when stealing other people's passwords: malware. Unlike more powerful viruses, they are not so apparent because their goal is to steal your data without your knowing or disrupting your overall PC or smartphone usage.

This causes thousands of people to have malware on their devices without even imagining it, which is obviously a very dangerous situation. To prevent this from happening to you, keep your antivirus up to date, scan frequently, and avoid suspicious sites populated with pop-up ads.

Did you like the tips to defend yourself better?

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