Empowering the Weakest Link in Today's Technology with: Cyber-security Protection by Means of Password Security

Abstract

No matter how expensive or how advanced the technology inside your organization is, there is always going to be the human factor. In this project I develop a program written in C++ that will help not only IT professionals but also the general public that use passwords to log in to their work environment. This software will prompt the user to enter a password and the program will then give the user a password score while suggesting the user to add certain ASCII characters to help strengthen their password and try again, as well as displaying how many years it would take for a super computer to crack the user's password. With 81% of hacking-related breaches being generated because of stolen and/or weak passwords, it is important for users to have a well-constructed password to avoid being the target of a criminal hacker. Key Terms — Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity Awareness, Cyber-threat, Password Analyzer.