The WiFi password should be as secure as possible. But how safe is really safe? The BSI has a recommendation that very few will live up to.
The BSI is the authority for IT security issues in Germany. In the tips for secure passwords, the authority’s experts also give explicit recommendations for WLAN passwords. There it says:
“Basically, the longer the better. A good password should be at least eight characters long. For encryption methods for WLAN such as WPA2 or WPA3, the password should, for example at least 20 characters To be long. So-called offline attacks are possible here, which also work without a network connection.“
And? Do you have a WiFi password that is at least 20 characters long?
Is your WiFi password long enough?
Be honest, does your WiFi password meet the requirements of the BSI? At least 20 characters is a lot of wood for a password that you have to enter at least once on all devices.
However, the default WLAN network keys for current Fritz boxes are actually 20-character numeric codes. But you should adapt them, otherwise every visitor to your home can read the password directly from the router.
It is best to check your password and extend it if it is too short. Today’s most common standard, WPA2, supports passwords from 8 to 63 characters. So you still have a lot of leeway to extend the password.
More tips for secure passwords
Password manager recommended
The BSI also recommends using a password manager. A fixed component of these programs is a password generator. You can choose how long a password should be and which characters it contains.
In principle, letters, numbers and special characters work for WLAN passwords, but there are also characters that you should avoid. For example, AVM recommends not using the following characters in WLAN passwords:
- letter ß
- umlauts
- accent ´
Password managers such as KeePassXC or Bitwarden, which can be used free of charge, already offer many functions for managing passwords securely and conveniently. This article explains how you can easily share WiFi passwords with guests.