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David Furman, Brandon Morris, and Cody Lawson standing with Southpaw at the table for Cyber Security Week.
David Furman, Brandon Morris, and Cody Lawson standing with Southpaw, students, and shark at the table for Cyber Security Week.

 

In October, the University of South Alabama Office of Information Security (InfoSec) will recognize and participate in National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM). NCSAM is a month out of the year in which the cybersecurity professional community comes together to focus on cybersecurity and encourage others to exercise proper cyber hygiene.  The Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance have sponsored NCSAM since its inception in 2004.

From mobile to connected home devices, technology is becoming more intertwined with our lives everyday. And while the evolution of technology is moving at the speed of sound, cybercriminals are working just as hard to find ways to compromise technology and disrupt personal and business life. Cybersecurity Awareness Month aims to highlight some of the emerging challenges that exist in the world of cybersecurity today and provide straightforward actionable guidance that anyone can follow to create a safe and secure digital world for themselves and their loved ones.

For 2025, USA InfoSec will focus on the implementation and importance of two factor authentication. This is an important layer of security that can be enabled on most online accounts with minimal effort. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a security process that requires two different forms of verification before granting access to an account or system. It typically involves something you know (like a password) and something you have (like a smartphone or security token).   

Throughout the month of October, the InfoSec team will visit various sites on campus between the hours of 11am and 1pm, to include Shelby Hall, Allied Health, and the USA Student Center.  During these events, the InfoSec team will hand out free t-shirts that reflect this year’s theme, and will encourage our students and employees to enroll themselves in Multi Factor Authentication.  

For more information about Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2025 and how to participate in a wide variety of activities, visit staysafeonline.org/cybersecurity-awareness-month/. You can also follow and use the official hashtag #SecureOurWorld or last year’s hashtag #BeCyberSmart on social media throughout the month.

5 Phishing Red Flags

  • Request for passwords
  • Suspicious links or attachments
  • Sense of urgency
  • Poor grammar
  • Unusual addresses

Time It Takes a Hacker to Brute Force Your Password in 2025
Hardware: 12 x RTX 5090 | Password hash: bcrypt(10)

Number of Characters Number Only Lowercase Letters Upper and Lower Case Letters Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters Numbers, Upper and Lowercase Letters, Symbols
4 Instantly Instantly Instantly Instantly Instantly
5 Instantly Instantly 46 minutes 2 hours 3 hours
6 Instantly 37 minutes 2 days 5 Days 1 week
7 Instantly 16 hours 3 months 10 Months 2 years
8 Instantly 2 weeks 12 years 50 years 132 years
9 2 hours 1 year 636 years 3k years 9k years
10 20 hours 32 years 33k years 191k years 645k years
11 1 week 839 years 1m years 11m years 45m years
12 3 months 21k years 89m years 737m years 3bn years
13 2 years 567k years 4bn years 45bn years 221bn years
14 23 years 14m years 241bn years 2tn years 15tn years
15 229 years 383m years 12tn years 175tn years 1qd years
16 2k years 9bn years 653tn years 10qd years 75qd years
17 22k years 259bn years 33qd years 675qd years 5qn years
18 228k years 6tn years 1qn years 41qn years 372qn years