Time to Change Your Password?
Each year, SplashData publishes a list of the most common passwords. This list was compiled from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers. Users of any of these passwords are the most likely to be victims in future breaches.
The top three passwords, “password,” “123456,” and “12345678,” did not change from 2011. New for 2012 were “welcome,” “jesus,” “ninja,” “mustang, ” and “password1.”
Here is the list of worst passwords of 2012
1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
4. abc123
5. qwerty
6. monkey
7. letmein
8. dragon
9. 111111
10. baseball
11. iloveyou
12. trustno1
13. 1234567
14. sunshine
15. master
16. 123123
17. welcome
18. shadow
19. ashley
20. football
21. jesus
22. michael
23. ninja
24. mustang
25. password1
The company advises anyone using any of these passwords to change them immediately.
Here are tips to make your passwords more secure:
• Use passwords of eight characters or more with mixed types of characters. Think about using short words that are easy to remember with spaces or other characters separating them. For example, “eat cake at 8!” or “car_park_city?”
• Avoid using the same username/password combination for multiple websites. This is especially true if you are using the same password for entertainment sites that you do for online email, social networking, and financial services. Use different passwords for each new website or service you sign up for.
• Consider using a password manager application that organizes and protects passwords and can automatically log you into websites. There are numerous applications available, but choose one with a strong track record of reliability and security.
