The Critical Importance of Snapchat Password Security

As covered initially, Snapchat‘s immense popularity with over 265 million daily active users makes it a prime target for cybercriminals looking to takeover accounts.

But compromised accounts pose threats beyond just loss of personal photos or conversations. They also enable a range of financial fraud.

According to 2021 research from SocialCatfish.com, roughly 64% of Snapchat account hacking victims reported fraudulent charges to their bank or credit accounts tied to the mobile number or email associated with their profile.

With all your personal information linked to a account – full name, birth date, phone/email contacts, etc – hackers can easily use accessed Snapchat accounts for identity theft and opening unauthorized lines of credit.

In fact, account takeover (ATO) fraud linked to social media profiles has been steadily rising over the past 5 years:

So keeping your Snapchat locked down via security best practices is crucial not just to maintain your privacy, but also protecting yourself against a range of cybercrimes.

How Hackers Actually Crack Passwords

To appreciate why tough passwords are critical, it helps to understand how hackers break into accounts in the first place.

While movies depict elaborately coded malware bypassing a system’s defenses instantly, the reality is most common hacking attempts rely on what‘s known as brute force cracking.

This method simply uses software to systematically guess endless password combinations until landing on the correct one.

Modern password cracking tools like Hashcat can test upwards of 100 million guesses per second leveraging the parallel processing power of multiple GPUs.

To put into perspective how quickly that cracks passwords – testing all possible 8 character alphabetical passwords at that rate would take under 10 minutes.

But each additional character exponentially increases the number of total possibilities needing checked.

Here‘s how long modern GPU rigs would take to brute force all permutations of longer passwords:

So while 12+ character passwords can be brute forced eventually, it reduces odds of getting hacked in practice because attackers move onto easier targets.

This demonstrates why using maximum password lengths available on sites that allow over 12 characters is strongly advised.

Constructing Stronger Snapchat Passwords

Now that you understand brute force attacks, let‘s cover concrete examples for boosting Snapchat password security against them.

The following qualities make passwords exponentially harder to crack:

Length

As the table earlier showed, each added character increases the cracking effort needed exponentially. Aim for the maximum allowed length of 98 on Snapchat.

Complexity

Using all types of characters – upper and lowercase letters, numbers, symbols – creates tremendous permutations.

Unpredictability

Avoid including any real words or dates which are contained in cracking dictionary wordlists:

Also never reuse the same password used on other breached accounts which adds your credentials to these dictionaries.

Randomness

Ideally passwords appear completely random like the output of a password manager or generator tool:

Memorizing passwords like that can be challenging. But even just basing passwords on the first letters of a memorable sentence with added complexity boosts strength significantly.

Resetting Via SMS vs Email Security Comparison

If you get locked out after too many failed attempts, Snapchat offers password resets via both SMS and Email. But which method provides better account security?

SMS resets seem convenient by delivering codes directly your phone which must match the device associated with your Snapchat account.

However, hackers with access to your email inbox could still theoretically intercept an account recovery email first. This slight advantage makes SMS the more secure option overall for account recovery.

That said, SMS-based password resets does require having your phone number registered properly under your account‘s settings. Otherwise the verification codes will never arrive to begin with.

Meanwhile, nearly all Snapchat accounts have an email on file by default that could be used for a reset link assuming the address itself hasn‘t been compromised already.

So in summary of reset method security:

• SMS – Slightly more secure, but relies on mobile number properly linked to account
• Email – Less secure overall but higher chance of reset link delivery success

Regardless of delivery method, always remain vigilant against unexpected password reset notices by confirming validity with Snapchat support first before clicking any received links or entering codes.

Troubleshooting Password Reset Problems

Sometimes the password reset process fails due to technical issues, account alterations made, or change requests being marked as fraudulent.

Here are some troubleshooting steps if running into problems:

Wrong email/number errors

Double check the address or phone number you entered matches EXACTLY with the one on file under your account details:

Entering even a slight variation triggers fraud prevention restrictions.

Codes invalid or not arriving

• Check spam folders in case routed there incorrectly
• If sent via SMS, confirm your phone has cellular signal
• Try waiting 5-10 minutes and requesting a fresh code
• Log into Snapchat on a browser to check for notices about detected suspicious activity

Reset link expired

Password reset links typically expire within 1 hour after being generated. If it‘s been longer than that since your first reset attempt, try restarting the reset process.

Account locked completely

In some cases too many failed password attempts or resets gets interpreted as suspicious activity. You may then see errors stating the account is locked:

Resolution requires submitting an Account Lock Appeal to Snapchat directly through their contact form explaining this is legitimate activity. Still takes 1-2 days typically for reviews.

If issues continue – Contact Snapchat Support via chat/form providing:

• Account username
• Email/number on account
• What password reset methods attempted
• Exact wording of any error messages

With enough context, their team can manually identity verification steps required to restore password access. Still expect ~24 hour turnaround time.

Safeguarding your Snapchat account should be a priority for every user given risks associated with social media account takeovers extend far beyond just personal privacy loss.

Protect yourself by doing the following:

• Change Snapchat passwords every ~90 days using the strongest combinations possible
• Perform account security checkups biannually confirming two-factor auth active

• Leverage a password manager to conveniently handle strong unique passwords for every account/site

Staying vigilant around password resets and avoiding clicking questionable links remains imperative too.

But following guiding principles for password hygiene and site security outlined here makes you an incredibly difficult target for 10‘s of millions of hacking attacks occurring daily across the web.