Cybersecurity: How long would it take a computer to hack your password?

The Big Picture: Password Security Explained

This chart shows the time it would take for a computer to crack passwords.

• A password of 8 standard letters contains 209 billion possible combinations, but a computer is able to calculate this instantly.
• Adding one upper case letter to a password dramatically alters a computer's potential to crack a password, extending it to 22 minutes.
• Having a long mix of upper and lower case letters, symbols and numbers is the best way to make your password more secure.
• A 12-character password containing at least one upper case letter, one symbol and one number would take 34,000 years for a computer to crack.

The Exponential Power of Character Sets

This happens because when we use more types of characters, the potential combinations making up the password increase exponentially. Consider the following:

• With just 26 lower case letters, a password of eight characters has 26⁸, so around 209 billion possible combinations.
• Adding uppercase letters, we already arrive at 52⁸, around 53.5 trillion combinations.
• With numbers included, it’s 62⁸ or 218 trillion combinations.
• Symbols add another great potential for security, upping the number of combinations once more to around 90⁸ or 430 trillion combinations.

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