Most people set password which are very easy to remember such as qwerty, abc123, 123456 etc. To make everybody wary of certain common passwords security websites are launching awareness campaigns by publishing some very common and vulnerable passwords on their websites.
The list we have got hold for our readers has been created by SplashData which they compiled with the help of few hackers and includes some (according to them) very common and hack-friendly passwords.
At the top of the list unsurprisingly is the word ‘password’. Other common passwords include ‘qwerty’ as well as ‘monkey’. The list also suggests that choosing famous personalities for your password’s uniqueness is a very very bad idea!
Enough said! Here are the Top 25 worst passwords of the year 2011.
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
We want business as well as your personal information to be safe and if you currently have any of the above passwords, we advise you to change it as early as possible.
SplashData has also been kind enough to provide everybody with tips for choosing a secure password. If you think that your password is weak then:
1. Use different characters, words and numbers and special characters in your password.
2. Keep your password at least eight characters long; use spaces and underscores to separate small words.
3. Use different passwords for different websites. If you cannot remember different passwords use online password managers and different smartphone applications to keep track of your passwords.
4. Also check out this infographic on how to avoid the most common and dangerous passwords.
I hope you are now aware of bad password choices. Keep safe and logged in!