25 Worst Passwords Of Year List Unveiled
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
SplashData has revealed its “25 Worst Passwords of the Year” List for 2011, and once again “password” tops the list.
According to SplashData, a well-known provider of password management applications, “password” was the most common password used in 2011. The second most common password used was “123456″ followed by “12345678.”
Apparently, people with the name Ashley and Bailey aren’t too creative when coming up with passwords either. SplashData reported that those names were the 16th and 17th most used passwords for 2011. The only guy’s name on the top 25 list as worst choices for a password was “michael.”
“Baseball” beat out “football” when it came to sports terms being used as passwords, but it doesn’t mean using “football” as your password makes it any safer at the 25th spot on the list.
If you have chosen “monkey” as your password, then you are among the others who have made it popular enough to become the sixth most commonly used password, right underneath “qwerty” and “abc123.”
If you think Superman is able to save your account from being hacked, think again, because it was the 22nd most commonly used password in the list.
Both “sunshine” and “shadow” competed for a spot on the 25 list, with the brighter of the bunch falling in 15th place in the overall list, while shadow was just behind in the 19th spot.
For those who assume their fear of trusting people will keep them safe by using “trustno1″ as their password, they chose a phrase common enough to make it take the nine-spot on the list, next to “letmein.”
Although it’s loving, choosing “iloveyou” is proving itself as another dumb password to use to protect that Facebook account, along with “dragon” and “111111.”
Anyone who decided to randomly swipe their fingers down a row of keys on the keyboard did so in a fashion that landed them the 23rd most common password used with “qazwsx.”
SplashData said its list was compiled from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers.
“Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by repeatedly trying common passwords,” CEO Morgan Slain said in a statement. “Even though people are encouraged to select secure, strong passwords, many people continue to choose weak, easy-to-guess ones, placing themselves at risk from fraud and identity theft.”
He advises that people should stop choosing passwords that are easily guessable, short or a common word in the dictionary. He said “it’s like leaving your door open for identity thieves.”
SplashData suggests choosing a password with eight characters or more, with mixed types of characters such as using different capitalization or punctuation characters and numbers.
Also, it says to avoid using the same username / password combination for multiple websites. If you are easily forgetful, then you could try using a password manager application that organizes and protects passwords.
“It’s easy to start making your passwords better,” Slain said. “Start now; make it a resolution to keep it up and your whole life online will be safer and more secure in 2012.”
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2012-10-25 03:40:16
Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112719694/worst-passwords-list-safety-102412/
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