Make that super password!

How safe is your password? The answer could simply be with the number of characters in it. 12 is apparently the safest standard these days.

According to a report by the Georgia Institute of Technology, the trick to making a super password is by succumbing to the twelve-character era of online security. The research involved using clusters of graphics cards to crack passwords differing in numbers of characters. The more common eight-character passwords were cracked in less than two hours. On the other hand, the research concluded that it would take 17,134 years to crack 12-character passwords. 17,134 years! According to Joshua Davis of the Georgia Institute of Technology, "A computer keyboard contains 95 characters, and every time you add another character, your protection goes up exponentially, by 95 times." Aside from confirming that the length of one's password may indicate its vulnerability, he also explains that compared to 11 or 13 characters, 12 is the safest because it maintains a balance between "convenience and security."

Upon reading this news, I was actually adamant in changing my password. But then, my friend who is into Ragnarok said that in online gaming, they even use sentences as passwords. She explained that they have more to lose when their accounts are hacked. Not only are their identites stolen, but also their characters' weapons, powers, etc. that could be worth thousands when sold! Well I'm not really into online games, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to add four characters to my current password to make that super password for my emails!