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Passwords have been around since the internet was invented, yet we still struggle to use them wisely even though we know that a single password can be of crucial importance. Just ask BABA TC ATATURK — likely the most powerful player in the world of Rise of Kingdoms. The guy had his Rise of Kingdoms account (worth roughly $1.5 million) hacked and nearly ruined once and for all. Here’s how it happened and how you can effectively safeguard your online accounts to avoid a similar fate.
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How BABA TC ATATURK got his account hacked
Recently, the Rise of Kingdoms community was shaken by the news that arguably the most popular and powerful player in all of Rise of Kingdoms, BABA TC ATATURK, who has spent $1.5 million on his in-game ventures, had his account hacked. The story of how it went down could be considered a classic as it showcases everything one should not do if they want to keep their online accounts as secure as possible. However, we’re here not to judge but learn.
So, the story goes something like this. A call wakes BABA up at around 5 am. It’s his friend, and he informs BABA that he is under a rally attack in the Rise of Kingdoms world. At that very moment, BABA logs in and realizes that millions of his troops are already dead and makes the decision to teleport away only to later realize that his Power level plummeted from 690M down to 656M (FIY: in the Rise of Kingdom world, this is a very significant decline). Our hero takes back control of his account by using secret questions and getting some help from the support team. The account worth $1.5 million is once again safe and under BABA TC ATATURK’s control.
But how did the hacker get hold of BABA TC ATATURK’s account in the first place? Well, it turns out that BABA, in one of his Rise of Kingdom YouTube videos, unintentionally exposed his email address. This was likely a great starting point for the hacker behind it all. What made things even easier is the fact that BABA used a very simple password, which means weak in cybersecurity terms. He later disclosed in a letter to his friends and fans that the password was his son’s first name and his birth year. Bear in mind that these two simple cybersecurity slips would have cost BABA TC ATATURK a Rise of Kingdoms account that he had spent $1.5 million on.
Dangers of weak passwords
Too often, we like to take the easy way out. Unfortunately, this applies to passwords as well. The NordPass list of the most popular passwords of 2020 reveals that, to this day, we tend to use inherently weak passwords such as “123456”, “password”, “qwerty”, and “abc123” to secure our online accounts.
Sure, simple passwords are easy to remember. However, they are just as easy to crack. Most of the weak passwords we still use could be cracked in less than a minute. One of the methods that hackers use to crack passwords is known as brute force — an attack during which bad actors employ automation to systemically check for common predictable passwords.
The consequences of using a weak password can be dire as illustrated by BABA TC ATATURK’s story. But we’re here to help. Here are a few tips from cybersecurity experts at NordPass on how you can improve your passwords.
How to create strong passwords
To decrease the risk of having your passwords cracked and your online accounts hacked, you will need to sacrifice the ease of use for greater security.
A strong password is one that is secure by virtue of being difficult for a machine or a human to guess. Password strength can be achieved by including the following requirements:
Use at least 12 characters: the more characters, the better
Use a mixture of letters and numbers
Use a mixture of upper-case and lower-case letters
Include at least one special character
In case you don’t have the time or energy to create a strong password on your own, an alternative way would be to use a Password Generator. It uses sophisticated algorithms to generate unique, complex strings of characters that meet the requirements of a strong password.
To further fortify your online security, consider getting a password manager such as NordPass. With a password manager, you will finally have a single secure place to store all your passwords, credit cards, and personal information. Moreover, the autofill functionality will make you forget what it's like to type a password manually. With NordPass, you also receive additional advanced security features: Password Health and Data Breach Scanner. With Password Health, you can quickly identify whether any of your passwords are weak, reused, or old, while with the Data Breach Scanner you can discover whether you have been a victim of a data leak.
We live in a digital world, and online security is a fact of that world. So, don’t take chances — take charge of your digital security today with NordPass.