MANILA, Philippines – Passwords are as important as the key to your own house. Since we live in a digital era, it is always important to be smart when creating passwords.
Users who create common passwords are vulnerable to having sensitive accounts hacked and their identities stolen. Despite the warnings from cyber security experts, there are still some people who create awful passwords.
SplashData, a company which makes password management applications, has compiled the list of the worst passwords for this year. The company also found out that the top two passwords were the same as last year. According to the website, the list was compiled from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online during the previous year.
Here is the full list of the passwords that are prone to being hijacked. If you see one of your passwords on it, change it right away!
- 123456
- password
- 12345
- 12345678
- qwerty
- 1234567890
- 1234
- baseball
- dragon
- football
- 1234567
- monkey
- letmein
- abc123
- 111111
- mustang
- access
- shadow
- master
- michael
- superman
- 696969
- 123123
- batman
- trustno1
In line with that, they also gave out some tips in making sure that your passwords are strong enough for your own security:
- Use passwords of eight characters or more with mixed types of characters.
- One way to create more secure passwords that are easy to recall is to use passphrases -- short words with spaces or other characters separating them. It's best to use random words rather than common phrases.
- Avoid using the same username/password combination for multiple websites.
- Having trouble remembering all those different strong passwords? Try using a password manager application that organizes and protects passwords and can automatically log you into websites.