A password of eight standard letters contains 209 billion possible combinations, but a computer is able to calculate this instantly. Adding one upper case letter to a password dramatically alters a computer's potential to crack a password, extending it to 22 minutes. Having a long mix of upper and lower case letters, symbols and numbers is the best way make your password more secure. A 12-character password containing at least one upper case letter, one symbol and one number would take 34,000 years for a computer to crack.
This Chart Shows How Long It Would Take a Computer to Hack Your Exact Password
Password, 123456, qwerty - while passwords which appear on the list of the most common passwords should definitely be retired from use, even a more unique password can be easy to crack if a computer program is tasked with systematically breaking it.
As seen in data by website Security.org, adding even one upper case letter to a password can already dramatically alter its potential. In the case of an eight-character password, it can now be broken in 22 minutes instead of instantaneously in one second – an increase of more than 1000 percent.
