The 25 most popular (i.e. worst) passwords of 2012

[Catty1]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/right...205025766.html



By Tori Floyd | The Right Click – Wed, 24 Oct, 2012

Sometimes, it seems like people never learn.
The Canadian government is spending millions of dollars to beef up cybersecurity. Researchers are developing split passwords to help protect personal accounts from hacking attacks.

And yet, for another year in a row, what's the most popular being used online?
"Password."
Password-management application provider SplashData has released its annual list of the 25 most popular passwords used by people online. The company collected the data from the millions of stolen logins that were posted online by hackers in 2012, TechSpot reports.


If your password appears on this list, strongly consider changing it ASAP:

1. password (unchanged)	2. 123456 (unchanged)	3. 12345678 (unchanged)	4. abc123 (up 1)	5. qwerty (down 1)
6. monkey (unchanged)	7. letmein (up 1)	8. dragon (up 2)	9. 111111 (up 3)	10. baseball (up 1)
11. iloveyou (up 2)	12. trustno1 (down 3)	13. 1234567 (down 6)	14. sunshine (up 1)	15. master (down 1)
16. 123123 (up 4)	17. welcome (new)	18. shadow (up 1)	19. ashley (down 3)	20. football (up 5)
21. jesus (new)	22. michael (up 2)	23. ninja (new)	24. mustang (new)	25. password1 (new)

Many of the passwords on the list appeared on the 2011 one, too, which you can view here.
For anyone who just spotted their password in that list, here are some tips for creating a more secure password from SplashData:

1. Create passwords of at least eight characters or more, combining different types of characters
2. Avoid using the same password for multiple websites
3. If you need help keeping track of passwords, use a password management application or the built-in software in your operating system

When creating a password, it's also important to never give it out to anyone, especially if you've received an email asking for personal information like login info for a specific website.


And when you're making your new password, please, try and think of something that isn't bound to end up on the list for 2013.

[RICHARD]

Somewhere in the ether, Allen Luden is crying, laughing and scratching his head?

[kaycountrygal]

My Goodness! Are you kidding me? I'm shaking my head re those passwords. I'm pleased to say my password(s) are not on that list. I do what was suggested in that I have a different password for different sites. No, I cant remember all of them and have them written in a notebook. I do NOT have them listed on my computer.

[pomtzu]

OMG - I can't believe that of some supposedly reasonably intelligent individuals.

All of mine are so complicated, that when I changed them all, I couldn't even remember them at first. I don't have any of mine in a password manager either - too darn risky IMO.

[Catty1]

If you use Mozilla Firefox at all please know that it saves your passwords. This can be handy, but also hazardous.

However, you can put a Master Password on the whole lot! Then you just have to remember one PW.

Click on Tools - Options, then click on the Security tab. You can uncheck "Remember passwords for sites" or check "Use a master password".

To see your passwords click on "Saved Passwords" and then click "Show Passwords".

Got that? There's a test tomorrow....

[Taz_Zoee]

I have various passwords I use often with variations to them. Some of the less frequented and sites that aren't dangerous to me if someone hacked into it passwords I do have written down at home. NOT my bank password though. At work a couple of the sites I frequent require me to change my password every so often. I HAVE to write these down because I'd never remember them.
I can't believe the number one is "password".

[Jessika]

I tend to use one base password for everything... my email is the only one that is significantly different from anything else. For everything else I use a variation of the same one for everything... it is very hard to remember a different password for every log in you ever make, especially if they tell you not to write it down. Well I HAVE to write some down, or I'd never remember them!! lol

But, wow, to be dumb (yes: DUMB) enough to use 'password' as the password... you kind of deserve to have your account hacked (and is it truly even being hacked if you made it that easy??).