Password security helps prevent unauthorized access, while weak or reused credentials can expose accounts, systems, and sensitive data.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
Background for this topic.
Passwords are secret strings used to verify identity and control access to accounts, devices, applications, and services. They remain a common authentication method, but their security depends mainly on secrecy, length, and uniqueness rather than predictable complexity rules. A password reused across services can expose multiple accounts if one service is compromised; short, common, or previously leaked passwords are more susceptible to guessing and automated credential-stuffing attacks.
Practical defenses include using a password manager to generate and store a distinct, long password for each service, blocking known compromised passwords, and enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) where available. Organizations should protect stored passwords with slow, salted one-way hashing, restrict and monitor authentication attempts, and provide secure recovery processes. Password changes are most useful after suspected compromise or exposure, rather than as routine changes that encourage predictable variations. Security teams should also treat password databases and reset mechanisms as sensitive assets during vulnerability assessment and incident response.
The Plex media streaming platform is sending password reset notices to many of its users in response to discovering unauthorized access to one of its databases. [...]
Password-protected ZIP archives are common means of compressing and sharing sets of files—from sensitive documents to malware samples to even malware (phishing "invoices" in emails). But, did you know it is possible for an encrypted ZIP file to have two correct passwords, with both producing the same outcome on extraction? [...]