2013 Worst Passwords An annual ranking of the most common (and therefore, the worst) passwords used on the Internet shows many users do not grasp the basics of online security, where a strong password is the cornerstone. Researchers compiled the top 25 list to make people aware of the dangers of easily guessable passwords. In 2013, password lost its status as the most common entry, with two-time, second-place finisher 123456 rising to the top spot. Other common phrases included iloveyou, qwerty, and abc123. Other most common passwords are: 19) sunshine 12345 password1 princess azerty trustno1 000000 password 12345678 qwerty abc123 123456789 111111 1234567 iloveyou adobe123 123123 Admin 1234567890 letmein photoshop 1234 monkey shadow Don’t Become a Victim If your password is on this list, it goes without saying that you need to change it immediately. Even if it’s not, your password may be weak. Follow these tips to create a stronger password: Longer is stronger. Create as long a password as possible. An eight-character password is far stronger than its six-character counterpart. Never use easily guessed personal details as your password. Your birthday, wedding date, favorite sports team and the names of pets and family members all fall into this category. Be sure to use upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters (such as! and %) to thwart dictionary attacks, where regular words are entered in order to match your password. One trick is to create a passphrase that you can remember but that others could never guess. An example: starting with “born to run,” tweak it to “Born2Run!” Note that this phrase includes all the elements mentioned above Use different passwords/passphrases for each online account. If your password/passphrase is stolen, they won’t be able to access your other accounts. Visit the Password Security Center for more password best practices. Source: © National Security Institute, Inc.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 14:31:54 +0000
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