Preventing passwords from being exposed may not be as easy as we thought, now that artificial intelligence is becoming more widespread. Even if we are confident that our passwords have not been disclosed to anyone and are complex enough to be guessed, the truth is that AI can crack your passwords in a matter of seconds.
According to recent research, artificial intelligence is now capable of instantly cracking simple passwords or doing so in a matter of seconds. This has caused some people to wonder if the passwords they use are secure enough and not easily cracked, and this doubt is not unfounded.
AI Can Crack Passwords Instantly Now
Research conducted by Home Security Heroes (via Tomshardware) indicates that AI is now quite powerful in cracking passwords. Statistics even show that 51% of common passwords can be cracked in a matter of minutes.
The research and cybersecurity firm used PassGAN, which is a password generator that utilizes Generative Adversarial Network. What makes PassGAN dangerous is that it uses databases of passwords that have already been leaked on the internet and analyzes passwords that people might use.
Home Security Heroes used data from RockYou, a social media widget for platforms like Facebook and MySpace that experienced a data breach in 2009, exposing 15 million passwords. As a result, this data is now used as an asset to train AI models with the goal of cracking passwords.
So Far, Artificial Intelligence Can Only Crack Simple Passwords
However, not all passwords can be cracked quickly. The more complex the password, especially with combinations of numbers, lowercase and uppercase letters, and symbols, the longer it takes to crack. A 12-character password with only numbers takes 25 seconds. Adding letters takes 2 weeks, and adding lowercase and uppercase letters takes 289 years. Adding combinations of numbers, lowercase and uppercase letters takes 2,000 years, and adding symbols takes 30,000 years.
The main problem is that AI will continue to evolve and become faster in processing data. So, even though complex passwords may not be crackable now, in the future, the same may not be as difficult as we think.
