Think your password is secure enough?
You may want to think again. In 2014, nearly half of Americans had their personal info exposed by hackers – and that doesn’t even count the many companies that experienced breaches.
And with more and more businesses storing their information in the cloud and using SaaS solutions like business intelligence and hr software platforms, keeping your information safe becomes even more important.
Selecting an obscure and complex password and changing it frequently can spell the difference between keeping your data secure and having your personal information stolen. We’ve gathered insights and advice to empower you to tighten up your online security – and keep hackers out of your personal business.
To get started, we set out to discover just how quickly a seasoned cracker could “brute-force” various types of passwords (systematically check combinations until finding the correct one) based on factors such as length and character types. We also created an interactive feature that lets you estimate how long it would take someone to crack a password now compared with how long it took in the past. If you come up with an idea for a potential password, our tester can tell you just how secure it is. Just how many days, weeks, or years worth of security an extra letter or symbol make? How does password strength change over time? The answers just might surprise you.
Is there a way to crack the password on an Excel VBA Project? Ask Question 419. I've been asked to update some Excel 2003 macros, but the VBA projects are password protected, and it seems there's a lack of documentation. No-one knows the passwords. There are plenty of legitimately legal and ethical reasons to crack a VBA password. My son's expensive lock was, wrapped around his frame and he couldn't remember the password. I had to stand with the lock over my shoulder pushing against the bike to create tension. I was absolutely thrilled when and kind of surprised when the lock popped open. I wasn't even looking at the numbers just listening for the click.
How strong is a typical password now – and how strong was it in the 1980s? Enter a word (not your current password) and drag the slider to select a year to find out how long it would take for someone to crack the term if it were your password. It could take anywhere from infinite time to a millennium to mere fractions of a millisecond.
You can turn the “word list” function on or off as you test passwords. This tool works by cycling through a word list containing common words and passwords and then evaluating other factors such as character types. If you enter a password not on the word list, the cracking time will not be affected. But if your password is on the word list, it greatly affects cracking time.
Note: The interactive tool is for educational purposes only. Although it does not collect or store your passwords, you should avoid using your current password.
Note: The interactive tool is for educational purposes only. Although it does not collect or store your passwords, you should avoid using your current password.
How long should your password be?
When it comes to passwords, one thing is certain: Size matters. Adding a single character to a password boosts its security exponentially. In a so-called “dictionary attack,” a password cracker will utilize a word list of common passwords to discern the right one. The list above shows the difference that adding characters can make when it comes to security.
For instance, if you have an extremely simple and common password that’s seven characters long (“abcdefg”), a pro could crack it in a fraction of a millisecond. Add just one more character (“abcdefgh”) and that time increases to five hours. Nine-character passwords take five days to break, 10-character words take four months, and 11-character passwords take 10 years. Make it up to 12 characters, and you’re looking at 200 years’ worth of security – not bad for one little letter.
alpha and numberic characters
Combining numbers and letters rather than sticking with one type of character dramatically enhances password security. A string of nine letters or numbers takes milliseconds to crack. Add a single letter, and your password may become cryptic enough to thwart password crackers for nearly four decades.
However, it’s not as simple as swapping your “e” for a “3” or adding a number at the end of a string of letters. Password attacking methods actually take advantage of those common habits. Your best bet is to simply make your password less predictable and more complicated.
asci, lowercase, and numeric characters
Combining several types of characters is an extremely effective way to make your password more cryptic. A simple, common word can be cracked in fractions of a millisecond. Inject a mix of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols (think @, %, and #), and your password can be secure for more than a decade.
password strength over time
Not every security issue comes down to password character types and length – time is also a major factor. Over the years, passwords weaken dramatically as technologies evolve and hackers become increasingly proficient. For example, a password that would take over three years to crack in 2000 takes just over a year to crack by 2004. Five years later, in 2009, the cracking time drops to four months. By 2016, the same password could be decoded in just over two months. This demonstrates the importance of changing passwords frequently.
what if you get hacked?
One morning, you open your email, and everything has gone haywire: Friends are chatting you to say they’ve received spam from your address. Your login history looks odd. You have a pile of bounce-back messages in your inbox and a bunch of strange messages in your sent box. You’ve been hacked – so what should you do?
First, recover your email account, and change your password (use our guidelines to formulate a strong one). Complete all the steps, such as changing security questions and setting up phone notifications. Because email is filled with personal information, you should also notify your bank, PayPal, online stores, and any other accounts to discern whether a breach has occurred. Be sure to change other passwords as well. Finally, notify your contacts in case emails sent from your account have compromised their information too. While not getting hacked at all is the best-case scenario, promptly taking these steps can make the best of a bad situation.
Protect yourself
As time goes on, it only becomes more likely that your password will be hacked – putting your most personal information at risk. By taking a few steps to enhance your password, you can exponentially minimize the risk of a breach. When it comes to passwords, size trumps all else – so choose one that’s at least 16 characters. And be sure to choose a mix of character types (numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters, and symbols) to further enhance its security.
What else can you do? Steer clear of words found in the dictionary, pronouns, usernames, and other predefined terms, as well as commonly used passwords – the top two in 2015 were “123456” and “password” (yes, you read that right). Also, never use the same password in different places (that forgotten account at a site you never use could lead to a bank account breach). Consider using a password generator in order to get a complex password with no discernible pattern to help thwart password crackers. Finally, if memorizing long strings of characters proves too taxing, consider adopting a password manager that stores all your passwords. No password is perfect, but taking these steps can go a long way toward security and peace of mind.
Methodology
Using processor data collected from Intel and John the Ripper benchmarks, we calculated keys per second (number of password keys attempted per second in a brute-force attack) of typical personal computers from 1982 to today.
The results from our interactive feature may differ from those of other online password-testing tools due to factors such as different equations, processors, and word lists.
Our data are based on the following equations:
Number of possible character combinations:
![Crack Password Cp1300 Crack Password Cp1300](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126228263/242878598.png)
(Password Type)^(Password Length)
Password Type is the number of possible characters.
Effective Cores:
1/((1-Efficiency Constant)+(Efficiency Constant/Processor Cores)) The Efficiency Constant we used is 0.99, and we assume that 99% of the processor’s operations can be dedicated to the password crack.
Processor GFLOPS:
Processor Frequency * Effective Cores
Keys Per Second:
GFLOPS/Encryption Constant (gathered and calculated from John the Ripper benchmarks).
Time in seconds:
Seconds = Combinations/KeysPerSecond
Sources
Fair Use
Feel free to share the images and interactive found on this page freely. When doing so, please attribute the authors by providing a link back to this page and Better Buys, so your readers can learn more about this project and the related research.
If you are one of those users who are bound to handle a lot of data everyday whether you are at your office, at your shop, at your house, or elsewhere, better organization of collective data from various sources decide the resultant output of your effort, and this is where Microsoft Excel is required. It is one of the popular spreadsheet softwares which come along with the Microsoft Office suite.
![Cp1300 Cp1300](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3z8Zb9EUDBM/TtXmMO54blI/AAAAAAAAAJw/_5PddCocJuU/s1600/1.jpg)
Securing Excel files are equally important if you need to keep your personal and official data safe and sound. But most often it has been seen, users who set passwords for their excel files, forget excel password if not used in while. Mostly they dumb the file as an useless part of their collection and face a lot of troubles for losing hold of their protected contents within the files. But don't worry you don't need to do that ever again, for this article below would guide you on how to bypass a protected excel file if you have forgotten the password.
Method #1. Bypass Excel Spreadsheet Password by VBA Code
The best way to protect a worksheet is to put a password, so that if anyone opens the file then they will have to enter the correct password in order to gain access. But the real nightmare starts when you forget the password yourself. Fortunately, there are myriad ways to recover excel password and by using VBA code is one of them. VBA code usually helps to recover lost worksheet passwords effortlessly.
Step 1: Open the Excel file that needs to be unlocked, then press Alt + F11 to open VBA window.
Step 2: Choose the option that says Insert followed by Module.
Step 3: When the general window pops up that’s where you enter the VBA code.
Step 4: Click on 'Run' button (or press F5 key) to run it.
Step 5: Within few moments, the code will crack the password of the worksheet and you should be able to see a small message window with the password of the worksheet. You may write this down on a piece of paper and use it to unlock your worksheet.
See, how easy it is to crack worksheets?
NOTE: Remember, this method only works with single sheets. If you have multiple worksheets that needs to be unlocked then you will have to run this code over and over again by opening each and every sheet manually.
Method #2: Crack Excel Password with iSeePassword Dr.Excel
Are you done with banging your head with pointless methods and utility methods? Then this method would be very useful to you in case immediacy. iSeePassword Excel Password Recovery Tool, which can easily bypass your excel password without losing or corrupting original data. The program will not directly crack, bypass a Excel edit/modify restriction password, instead, it uses a brute force recovery, mask attack and dictionary attack to crack your Excel password without touching anything in your internal data. It has served countless clients thus it clearly reflects the goodwill of the tool in terms of market value. In order to know the working of the tool, read the tool's specifications first to get a clearer idea of it.
Top Features of iSeePassword Excel Password Recovery
- Provides 4 types of attacks- Brute-Force Attack; Mass Attack; Dictionary Attack; Smart Attack.
- Batch remove the Worksheet/Workbook protection
- Multi-core CPU and GPU provisions are available to increase the recovery speed.
- Compatible with the latest version of MS Excel including 2016/2013/2010/2007/2003.
- No file content is lost. It runs with all the Windows OS, such as XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8/ 10.
You can directly download it here, only Windows version available!
Step 1 Install and Run Excel Password Remover Tool and Add File
First of all, download the program file and then install it accurately in any one of your working computer. From the tool's main window, choose the first option 'Recover Open Pasword from Excel'.
Step 2 Add Excel File
Click on 'Add File' button in the menu bar, and then browse to load the password protected Excel file into the program from the directory.
Step 3 Select the Right Attack Types and Set the Attack Parameter
This program comes with 3 powerful password recovery algorithms. Each algorithm corresponds to an attack type. There are Brute-Force Attack, Mask Attack, Dictionary Attack. It's more a personal choice to choose the attack type, which it's highly dependent on your existing memory of the password.
For example, if you can provide any part of password information like password length, range, lowercase and uppercase letters, numerals, and special characters, then the program will find your password very fast. So You should select the right one according to your own situation.
Step 4 Star Bypassing Password from Microsoft Excel File
Eventually click on 'Start' button to start the process of password recovery. The entire time is largely depend on how complex the password it is and which attack type you selected. After the process ends, the cracked or recovered password is displayed on the screen in a small dialogue box.
Another Core Function in Dr.Excel You should Not Miss: Remove Worksheet/Workbook Protection
In every edition of Excel, you should notice that Microsoft give you ability to set a password protection for Workbook/Worksheet, the goal is to protect your sheet/book from unauthorized opening, modifying or changing. If the Excel sheet/workbook is protected, then you will find it is therefore read-only and cannot edit. If you forgot the worksheet or workbook password, you also can't change anything for it unless you unprotect Excel first. Luckily! Dr.PDF can do a great job for you to remove these protection without losing data.
Step 1. Download and install Dr.PDF on your computer, run it and select the second option and next.
Step 2. Now you need to click 'Add File' button and navigate to the target Excel worksheet/workbook files. If the file is protected by password, you can see it will be marked with a lock icon.
Then click Start button and you will see all the password was removed at once, including the sheet protection password, workbook protection password, and read-only password.
The aforementioned methods in the article are all effective in removing your excel password, but if you are looking for a guaranteed output, then you must rely on the third method iSeePassword Excel Password Recovery Tool for a better result. They are not that difficult to work with, in fact they are laid out in such a simpler manner than even a novice can pull it over at one go.
Method #3: Crack Excel Password with Excel Password Crack Tool
Excel password Remover is a freeware program that can be utilized to open any password protected files without the need of any password in real. The approach is very simple so even a beginner with computers can deal with it easily without any hardships. The steps for the method are exemplified below:
Step 1. Firstly download the program file from the internet and install it properly in your working computer.
Step 2. Now open the program with admin privileges. You will be asked either to disable or enable the macros configured with the add-ins. Simply choose to enable it to continue with the program.
Step 3. Click on 'Open' to load the protected excel file into the software.
Step 4. Once the file is loaded into the program, click on 'Remove Password' button to start the password removal process. It will take some time depending upon the complexity of the password. Once the procedure is finished, you can now easily open up your excel file without any password prompting.
Cons:
- Only compatible to bypass password for Excel 2010 or earlier workbook or sheets only.
- It wonly works on Excel (*.xls) file; cannot crack excel files with extension .xlsx.
Mar.09, 2018 18:54 pm / Posted by Vicky Tiffany to Office Topic