New analysis shows that stronger hardware – including systems powering AI – is slashing the time needed to crack passwords, putting millions at greater risk.

Hive Systems, a leading cybersecurity firm known for turning complex cyber threats into real-world insights, released its much-anticipated 2025 Password Table with the research revealing an alarming trend: passwords are being cracked faster than ever before.

Compared to 2024, the time it takes to crack passwords using consumer-grade GPUs has dropped by nearly 20% – a dramatic acceleration in just one year. An eight character password made up of only lowercase letters can now be cracked in just 3 weeks.

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Meanwhile, with AI-grade hardware—the same kind used to power large language models like ChatGPT—password cracking speeds have surged by over 1.8 billion percent compared to consumer-grade machines. This acceleration has collapsed cracking timelines from billions of years to just a few hours.

“We are witnessing an astronomical acceleration in computing power,” said Alex Nette, CEO of Hive Systems. “Even outside of quantum computing, today’s AI-grade hardware is already reshaping cybersecurity risks. Passwords that were safe last year could now be cracked in a fraction of the time and quantum computing will only push this even further.”

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A Password’s Shelf Life Is Shrinking

Hive Systems’ 2025 Password Table provides an updated look at how quickly different types of passwords – based on length and complexity – can be brute-forced by an attacker with modern hardware.

This year’s findings reflect the combined impact of faster GPUs, distributed cloud computing, and AI-specialized hardware – offering a stark reminder that password hygiene must evolve alongside technology.

Shorter, simpler passwords that might have survived for years in the past are now vulnerable in months, weeks, or even days — and that window will only continue to shrink as computing capabilities grow.

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Source: prnewswire

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