AI is more and more on the rise out there, and it is just a matter of time before some groups start to use its advanced power in ‘unorthodox’ ways. Everybody uses passwords out there, whether we’re talking about a simple website, our personal email accounts, social media profiles, and much more. More advanced ways of authentication are clearly needed, and while some of them, such as the two-factor authentication method, are already implemented, plenty of time will pass until they can truly become standards.
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools has skyrocketed in the last months. While many are enthusiastic about its potential to help us in countless ways in life, there surely is also a ‘dark side’ to it. In this article, we’ll address the elephant in the room.
AI can crack passwords in a few seconds
ZDNet reveals that the guys from Home Security Heroes shows that an AI tool is capable of cracking passwords in even a few seconds. PassGAN is the AI tool that experts have shown to be able of cracking passwords. If the information is true, we should all be extremely careful with what we do online and how we choose to secure our accounts. It has been found, according to the source, that more than half of the common passwords can be cracked in less than a minute.
The same source reveals that by using the powers of AI, it also takes less than a month to crack 81% of common passwords. In less than an hour, the AI tool is able to crack 65% of the common passwords. Finally, 71% of the common passwords can be cracked in less than a day.
Ultimately, perhaps the best chance we all have to stay away from malicious groups willing to crack our passwords with the help of AI is to change our passwords as often as we can and to use two-factor authentication methods.