Tech moves fast! Stay ahead of the curve with Techopedia!
Join nearly 200,000 subscribers who receive actionable tech insights from Techopedia.
Password Hardening
Definition - What does Password Hardening mean?
Password hardening is refers to any technique or technology through which a password is made to be more difficult to be breached, guessed or exploited by a hacker, cracker or any other individual with malicious intent. It enables creating a password or password policy that eventually ensures enhanced security of the underlying device, network or application.
Techopedia explains Password Hardening
Password hardening primarily enables adding security tools and techniques beyond standard password creation and management processes.
There are several techniques for password hardening such as:
-
Enforcing users to add special characters or capitalized (Upper Case) alphabets within their password
-
Restricting users to use their name or easily guessable words or numbers combination in the password
-
Using multi-factor authentication mechanisms along with the password such as by adding biometric security or smart-card based access besides the password
-
On-screen scrambled or standard keyboard that requires users to click the characters of the password rather than typing it manually
-
The Cybersecurity Blueprint: A Four-Part Model for Providing Comprehensive Layered Security - Cyberattacks have increased in both number and severity over the past few years; ransomware alone is responsible for roughly $5 billion USD in 2017. Cyberthreats loom over both individuals and businesses.
