How safe is your password?

When it comes to passwords, you’d like them to be simple enough to remember. Ones that are familiar to you or series of letters and numbers that have certain significance in your life. However, organizations are forcing users to create increasingly complex passwords that are not as easy to remember.

But how safe do either dictionary words or complex patterns really keep us from hackers?

After much research, Microsoft has concluded that complex passwords are just as easily hacked and may not be as effective as other password strategies. Their new approach to online passwords eliminates complexity requirements, like “must be 14 characters long and contain two numbers and a symbol,” while still protecting against both dictionary attacks and statistical guessing. Their new online service counts how many times any user chooses a given password, and if more than a small number of users pick that password, it is banned from all other users to choose. However, this strategy is not a cure-all for hacking protection for everyone—it is intended to be used by organizations with millions of users and heavy traffic, like Microsoft’s Hotmail service.

Read more about password strategy and Microsoft’s new approach to protect its users.