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Password Vulnerabilities Exposed & Meta's Bold Leap into AI Dominance...

In this week's tech roundup, I’ll explore the ever-evolving realms of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. 

From the stark reminder that our passwords may not be as secure as we think they are to the ambitious strides Meta is making in AI with its suite of products, there’s a lot to talk about.

And if any of this is new to you after a busy week, let me fill you in on the latest tech developments!

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Cracking the Code: How Secure Are Our Passwords?

When it comes to passwords, we’re all reasonably familiar with the idea of what makes a strong or a weak password. Or at least we probably think we do…

But think about this. How secure is your password from a brute force attack in 2024?

And how would you even know the answer to that question without taking a cybersecurity course?

Well, Hive Systems has released its annual report to deliver a stark reminder about the fragility of our digital defenses, highlighting just how quickly various passwords can fall to brute-force attacks. 

If you're still using passwords that evoke early 2000s pop culture, it's time for a serious upgrade!

This year, Hive Systems employed the brute force of twelve RTX 4090 graphics cards to test the resilience of passwords, from simple four-digit pins to complex 18-character concoctions. 

The transition from MD5 hashing to bcrypt did increase the average crack time, but any six-character password remains vulnerable, succumbing within a day.

And if you’re still using a numbers-only password, expect it to be cracked instantly for up to 6 characters and in less than 1 hour for up to 10 characters.

If you want to achieve what Hive Systems dubs "green" level security, your password needs to stretch to at least 13 characters and include a mix of numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters, and symbols. 

This nets you a crack time of 11 billion years! So it’s fair to say that it’s pretty darn secure!

One thing’s for sure: at a time when we’re all used to leaning on Face ID, fingerprint scans, and 6-digit pass codes, it’s so important to remember the importance of the humble password.

Now, if you are thinking about revamping your passwords or upping their strength, I’d definitely recommend using a password manager.

It’s just so much easier than trying to manage multiple strong passwords!

But whatever you’re choosing to do, just remember that a password with at least 13 characters from numbers, symbols, and letters in upper and lower case can net you an 11 billion-year head start on a brute force attack!

Meta's AI Ascent: Aiming for the Top

Shifting lanes and focusing on AI, Meta (or Facebook if you’ve not gotten over the rename!) has made it very clear that they are not just participating in the AI chatbot race; they want to lead it. 

With the rollout of its Meta AI assistant across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger and the introduction of its standalone website, Meta.ai, Meta is embedding AI deeply into the fabric of its suite of products.

And that’s not to mention Meta’s AI glasses!

Ultimately, this progress all revolves around Llama 3, Meta's latest open-source large language model, which signals a fairly major leap in performance, boasting improvements in coding tasks and general capabilities across its class. 

In fact, this model is not only powering Meta's AI assistant but is also available to developers, reinforcing Meta's commitment to fostering an open-source ecosystem.

Plus, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly claimed that his vision for Meta AI is for it to be "the most intelligent AI assistant" in the world, demonstrating just how ambitious his plans are to integrate AI into everyday interactions. 

With their AI assistant now reaching audiences in multiple English-speaking countries, Meta is expanding its influence rapidly, which I’m sure has not gone unnoticed by the thousand-pound gorilla in the room, OpenAI, with its ChatGPT, Sora, and Dall-E products. 

In a rush…

So there you go, that’s what’s big in tech this week!

Want a recap? 

When it comes to secure passwords in 2024, make sure you’re opting for at least a 13-character password with a mixture of numbers, symbols, and mixed-case letters. And if you’re using anything up to only 6 characters, you could be cracked in a day or less.

Meanwhile, Meta's aggressive expansion into AI highlights the industry's drive toward more interactive and intelligent systems while also pushing the boundaries of what open-source models can achieve. (Learn more with popular AI courses).

See you next week for another round-up of the most interesting stories in the tech space. In the meantime, I’ll be working on new HTML projects for the Hackr.io community.

Dr Robert Johns

Editor-in-chief at Hackr.io

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