GCHQ Claims Longer Passwords Are Unnecessary

GCHQ is a government body which monitors communication in the UK and protects the security of its citizens. While the organization remains fairly aloof, it has come under a great deal of scrutiny in lieu of the Edward Snowden revelations. GCHQ and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure compiled a report entitled “Password guidance: simplifying your approach”. This piece of documentation recommends users to opt for a password manager instead of long and overly complicated passwords:

“Complex passwords do not usually frustrate attackers, yet they make daily life much harder for users.”

Although, professional hackers are still capable of infiltrating any kind of software:

“like any piece of security software, they are not impregnable and are an attractive target”.

Nigel Hawthorn from security company Skyhigh Networks argued:

“The security industry is awash with password advice, but much of it is contradictory or simply not suited to modern working. The result – passwords still puzzle many. GCHQ’s latest advice is refreshingly to the point and covers some of the most pressing issues facing UK businesses and employees today.”

The question is, do you trust GCHQ’s advice given their less-than-admirable behaviour in recent years? Ideally, you should set a different password for each service to avoid every aspect of your being disrupted during a hack. Although, it can be quite difficult to remember passwords as various sites set specific stipulations for the characters used. Hopefully, fingerprint recognition and other methods will replace passwords in the near future.

Thank you The Guardian for providing us with this information.