11 Comments

This was a fascinating read—always wild to see just how much weak passwords can be exploited with the right tools. It’s a good reminder that even a “strong” password isn’t always enough if it’s predictable. I’ve been telling people to use passphrases over complex strings, but I’m curious in your opinion what’s the best balance between security and practicality when it comes to Wi-Fi passwords? Love getting other cyber professionals perspectives

Expand full comment

It really depends on your risk level.

If you’re in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors for miles, a simple password might be fine. But in a dense city with a lot of tech-savvy people around, relying on a weak or predictable password isn’t a great idea.

In a business environment, security becomes even more critical—strong passwords, unique SSIDs, and newer protocols like WPA3 are ideal. But it’s also a matter of risk assessment. If you’re running a mom-and-pop sandwich shop, your biggest concerns might be keeping freeloaders off your network and separating guest Wi-Fi from internal systems. A strong WPA3 password and proper network segmentation are usually enough.

On the other hand, if your company stores trade secrets or works on aerospace contracts with the federal government, the stakes are much higher. A breach could mean espionage, intellectual property theft, or even national security risks. In that case, you’d want WPA3-Enterprise with RADIUS authentication, certificate-based access, strict network segmentation, intrusion detection, and even physical security measures.

Beyond passwords, other methods like MAC address filtering, network segmentation, and enterprise authentication can add extra layers of protection. The best balance really depends on your specific threat model and how much risk you’re willing to accept.

Thanks for reading! 🙏

Expand full comment

Great comprehensive answer! I would agree with all of that

Expand full comment

Good stuff and reminder ! to change passwords we tend to get lazy with that. Just as an aside a pen tester back like ten yrs ago had the list of most common password names — and for men “superman”

was right up there usually with birth month & year. lol

Expand full comment

Nice video demo. Next, pipe the output to do an alpha sort before writing to local storage. 😎

Very usefult article. 👍

Expand full comment

Thanks for reading! I opened the txt file for demo but the data is saved directly to a wordlist.txt file for use with Hashcat - and sorted by word frequency ; ie the most commonly used words on the site, to prioritize words that are used frequently 🙃

Expand full comment

Makes sense. The primary use of the file is for software use not people use. 👍

Expand full comment

Scary and I will be changing all passwords and not saving them!

Expand full comment

It's definitely eye-opening!

To stay secure, change your router's default password and use strong, unique passwords. A good password is long, complex, and updated regularly. Mix uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters—avoid common words, patterns, or reusing passwords.

Thanks for reading!

Expand full comment

Handy. Like giving people instructions for making meth.

Expand full comment

Lol thank you. I should note here that purpose of this is not to help people commit crimes, but rather to help people and key stakeholders in businesses to improve their cybersecurity practices.

Having a strict password policy is necessary in today's world, and methods like this show how easy it is to break a weak password.

Looking forward to reading your meth recipes!

Expand full comment