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Most Frequently Stolen Passwords
November 20, 2011

What's YOUR password?

Your password.  It’s probably a crafty combination of an old address, your first boyfriend’s last name, and your birthday?  If only we were all so calculating!  Too often, women in particular choose passwords that are easy to remember, and easy to break through. Promise your password isn’t, “password.”  According to Mashable.com, and Splashdata’s annual list of “worst internet passwords”, THAT tops the list of passwords NOT to use:

“If  “password” is your password, chances are you’ve been the victim of a hack attack.

“Password” is the least successful, according to SplashData’s annual list of worst Internet passwords.

The list, notes Mashable.com, is somewhat predictable. Sequences of adjacent numbers or letters on the keyboard, such as “qwerty” and “123456,” and popular names, such as “ashley” and “michael,” all are common choices. Other common choices, such as “monkey” and “shadow,” are harder to explain.

As some websites have begun to require passwords to include both numbers and letters, it makes sense varied choices, such as “abc123″ and “trustno1,” have become popular choices.

SplashData created the rankings based on millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers. Here is the complete list:

  • 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

SplashData CEO Morgan Slain urges businesses and consumers using any password on the list to change them immediately.

Forgot YOUR PASSWORD?????

“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.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/11/20/25-worst-internet-passwords/#ixzz1eJRWlZCq

       


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Filed under: Education, Featured, Inside The KC by Sonja Eddings Brown, Nov 20, 2011

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