Russian hackers

[Phrag]

Russian Hacker Group Steals 1.2 Billion Internet User Passwords

What are peoples thoughts?

I immediately thought this could be a step in A direction; in either direct or indirect relation to the whole Ukrainian conflict. But that's probably just jumping to conclusions.

[Iowatech]

Re: Russian hackers

I heard about that on the radio yesterday.
For what it is worth, that report said a lot of the information was actually stolen a long time ago.
Also, Slashdot has some questions about this -
Massive Russian Hack Has Researchers Scratching Their Heads - Slashdot

[pepper38_cnd]

Re: Russian hackers

As far as stealing and jeopardizing us, I hope it's not true!!! But hey when it comes to Media Centers and Media Players the Russian hackers are the best, I just wish they could post their Sh#t in English Google translator hardly ever cuts it.

[kingarthur]

Re: Russian hackers

At least i'll know who to contact when i've forgotten my password...

[ZOOTECH]

Re: Russian hackers

"You can plug in various passwords on a website developed by CA based Gibson Research - grc.com/haystack.htm - to see how long it would take to crack each type of password."
There is some good information here, and will show you how to make your passwords stronger.

[slimslob]

Re: Russian hackers

"You can plug in various passwords on a website developed by CA based Gibson Research - grc.com/haystack.htm - to see how long it would take to crack each type of password."
There is some good information here, and will show you how to make your passwords stronger.

Steve Gibson has always been top of internet security. His programs are very compact to those of others that can do the same thing. I've used SpinRite for years.

[Aneurysm]

Re: Russian hackers

"You can plug in various passwords on a website developed by CA based Gibson Research - grc.com/haystack.htm

Does This look sufficient?

Time Required to Exhaustively Search this Password's Space:

Online Attack Scenario: (Assuming one thousand guesses per second)	1.57 thousand trillion centuries
Offline Fast Attack Scenario: (Assuming one hundred billion guesses per second)	15.67 million centuries
Massive Cracking Array Scenario: (Assuming one hundred trillion guesses per second)	15.67 thousand centuries

[Phrag]

Re: Russian hackers

Asumming they aren't using a super secret Quantum processing unit.

[ZOOTECH]

Re: Russian hackers

Does This look sufficient?

Time Required to Exhaustively Search this Password's Space:

Online Attack Scenario: (Assuming one thousand guesses per second)	1.57 thousand trillion centuries
Offline Fast Attack Scenario: (Assuming one hundred billion guesses per second)	15.67 million centuries
Massive Cracking Array Scenario: (Assuming one hundred trillion guesses per second)	15.67 thousand centuries

A few million/trillion centuries would certainly be safe in your lifetime!!!

[KenB]

Re: Russian hackers

A few million/trillion centuries would certainly be safe in your lifetime!!!

Unless, of course, we're talking about the time when I can afford to retire...then no.

[Akitu]

Re: Russian hackers

Having various passwords of strength for different purposes has served me quite well. My simplest passwords are the ones I share with family and friends because I don't care about the security of that account (my online XM radio subscription for example is probably my dumbest/most simplistic, but that's because XM changed it and I never bothered to change it back to my original.) My longest password is over 20 characters of random letters and numbers and I can guarantee will never be guessed by anyone, ever. The nice part of having strong obsessive compulsive tendencies bordering a disorder is that these stupid things stick like glue to my mind, so I need not write them down and fear someone finding them.

The strongest passwords are ones that have no ties to your personal life - a majority of "hacking" is actually just social engineering. If your facebook profile is openly available to everyone, your password is as good as gone to someone who knows what they're doing. People are dumb with passwords on average, choosing a significant date or person/animal in their life. Often times it's a combination of a real word and a few numbers (password123 is one of the most common passwords in the world) such as "chester1"; that same person will have pictures of their orange tabby Chester all over their profile page like a moron.

For PINs, pick random digits and attempt to memorize them. Do not make them significant in any way, a birthday is not as secure as you think - most PINs are 4-6 digits in length, less than that of a single phone number. If you can't recall 4-6 random digits then you may want to look into having a psych eval performed. My own PINs are generated off a number I long ago thought was my student ID number, but it turned out I was erroneous in the numbers I chose; it's now my greatest PIN as it has no significant ties to anything and is just a random number I can recall flawlessly.

Be password smart!