Are you one of those people who have a lot of things to keep in mind so when it comes to using a password, you choose the one which you can remember easily? If yes, then you need to read this article very carefully. A lot of people still use “password” as their online password which is not a very smart approach. Unless, of course you want to deliberately invite hackers to look into your account.
“Password” in on the top of 25 worst passwords in 2011. The list was released by the password management application providers SplashData. Below list is in order of how common the passwords are. Those who think that adding a numeral 0 in the password (“passw0rd”) makes it strong enough, the list prove it wrong. It is on number 18 of the list.
Many of the passwords in the list are quite common and made of various combinations of keyboard key, common names such “Ashley” and “Michael”. Some other common passwords are “monkey” and “shadow”.
A lot of websites that require password ask the members to use Alpha-numeric passwords. In alpha-numeric passwords, “abc123” and “trustno1” and popular ones.
The list below is based on millions of stolen password posted by the hackers on the Internet.
1. password
2. 123456
3.12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passw0rd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football
Morgan Slain who is the CEO of SplashData urges the individuals and companies to change their passwords immediately if they see their passwords in the above list.
“Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by repeatedly trying common passwords,” Slain says. “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.”
So, what should be the secure password? That’s the question in your mind right now. The company gives some tips for selecting the secure passwords:
- Use various types of characters in your passwords such as number, letters, special characters.
- Your password should be of at least 8 characters long. If there are more than one words in the password, use spaces, hyphens or underscores.
- Last but not the least. Use different passwords for each website. This is the most common mistake people make. You may use an online password manager to keep track of your multiple accounts.
Via Mashable
