Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2026 Week 1
Today
Don't make it easy for them
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MEET DPXAKER: LONG, UNIQUE PASSWORDS ARE TOO MUCH WORK
Dariy Pankov, known among hackers as “dpxaker,” paid for his lavish lifestyle by selling password-cracking software to criminals for just $250 – no subscription required. Powered by his program, hackers don’t have to sit in a dark room guessing passwords one at a time – dpxaker’s software and AI tests thousands of password combinations every second. These hackers love pet names and birthdays – they really love short passwords and reused passwords!
IN THE NEWS
DON’T MAKE LIFE EASY FOR DPXAKER
- Every password should be at least 16 characters long
- Every password needs to be unique to the account
- Every password should be a random mix of letters, numbers, and symbols
RESOURCES
- My Password Needs to be How Long? (tips)
- Password Manager Myth Debunker (tips)
- Password Security Page (security.arizona.edu)