Technology and data serve as both fuel and currency for the world we live in today. This also makes them highly coveted resources that are often used by hackers to undermine business, institutions, and even entire countries.
Since the start of the global pandemic, many organizations have moved to remote or hybrid work environments, increasing their reliance on digital connectivity and online platforms. While this has led to greater efficiency in some ways, it has also exposed existing security vulnerabilities, increasing the risk of cyberattacks and data breaches, and the need for increasing cybersecurity.
In 2021, the global number of cyberattacks reported were alarming.
- 10.4 million encrypted threats [+167% from 2020]
- 623.3 million ransomware attacks [+105% from 2020]
- 97.1 crypto jacking attacks [+19% from 2020]
- 5.3 trillion intrusion attempts [+11% from 2020]
- 5.4 billion malware attacks
Yikes.
Making information security and data protection a priority
Many people would agree on the importance of using passwords to ensure data security. Password rules, however, are a different matter altogether. Does complexity trump length, or the other way round? How random is random? [Hint: read on to find out.]
Experts frequently debate whether passphrases are indeed better than passwords in protecting individuals and organizations from cyber risks. To get to the bottom of that discussion, we first need to understand the differences between passwords and passphrases.
Are passwords and passphrases the same?
Not quite, other than the fact that both passwords and passphrases are used to secure accounts and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information.
A password is typically a continuous string of eight or more letters, numbers, and/or symbols. Ideally, these should be randomized, which would make it harder to decode. An example would be “W=aXBt