Breakdown of Ему нужно поставить новый пароль, как бы хакер не взломал сервер.
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
новый
new
пароль
password
Questions & Answers about Ему нужно поставить новый пароль, как бы хакер не взломал сервер.
Why is the verb взломал in the past tense if the hacking hasn't happened yet?
This is the standard rule for the как бы не (lest / so that... not) construction. Whenever you express fear of a future event or an action taken to prevent it, the verb following как бы не must be in the past tense. It functions similarly to the conditional mood (which also uses бы + past tense) to describe a hypothetical situation.
Does the не in как бы хакер не взломал mean the hacker won't hack the server?
The не expresses the desired outcome: he is setting the password so that the hacker does not hack the server. English translations like "lest" or "in case" often drop the negative word, but in Russian, the не is strictly required in this construction to specify the exact action you are trying to prevent.
Why use the verb поставить (to put/stand) for setting a password?
In everyday and IT Russian, the verb поставить is the standard collocation for installing software or setting up digital parameters. You will very often hear native speakers use it to mean "install a program" (поставить программу) or "set a password" (поставить пароль).
Why does the sentence start with the dative Ему instead of the nominative Он?