Passwords are a king-size pain in the rear. I always worry about them, especially when it comes to online banking. A big part of the problem is that I have a brain like a sieve. I’d love to use the one easy password I never forget, but of course, that would never do.
So I have strange and difficult words for my bank accounts, plus one of those token thingies that generate a random number for you to type in - and the bank always knows what it is at the other end. Amazing.
But a study of millions of internet accounts, done a couple of months ago, has revealed the top ten most common online passwords. The report was put together by security experts, Imperva, after a major vulnerability was discovered in Rockyou.com.A hacker posted 32 million passwords on the internet, and that large amount of data gave security specialists an insight into commonly used words and phrases.
The ten most commonly used passwords were: (are you ready?)
1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou *
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123
Bruce Schneier from Imperva said users should improve security by using a sentence. “Take a sentence and turn it into a password,” he said. “Something like ‘This little piggy went to market’ might become “tlpWENT2m”.”
He also advised people to use a different password for all sites. [This one totally slays me. Good grief! I’m flat out remembering the few I do have.]
Imperva recommends that passwords contain at least eight letters, with a mix of upper case, lower case, special characters and numbers.
The experts added that a combination of poor passwords and automated attacks means that in just 110 attempts, a hacker could gain access to one new account on every second.
Scary, innit? I know I’m not any too brilliant with passwords, but I have done better than 123456. What about you? Are you conscientious or do you use the name of your child/dog/cat/favourite comic book character? And for Pete’s sake, don’t tell us what it is, right?
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I’ve done better too, but I have to admit I’m using the same password in many different places. Maybe I should change that, recently I had to get a new credit card because someone somewhere had found out, maybe it was this same hacker…
What an interesting post Denise.
And how wonderfully stupid us people are to put in a passwork like above!!! I have a mind like a sieve too, but even my passwords are a little harder to remeber than abc123 LOL!!
I’m right there with you Denise on remembering passwords - I know it’s bad, but I have the same password for everything, just because it’s easier to remember (and yes, it’s better than 1234567
).
I had heard about using the letters from a phrase, and another helpful hint is using one password for banking, and a different password for casual log-ins. One of these days, I’m going to get around to changing mine.
A have a few base words - often family names from more than 100 years ago - then I change one letter to a capital and one or two letters to numbers and add a punctuation sign just for luck. I change the position of the capital and numbers for each place I register a password. It took a while but eventually it became a pattern in my head and I can generally work out which number is where for each logon before the dreaded three attempts locks me out.
Oh Eva, that gives me the shudders. Hope you didn’t lose too much. What I’ve heard is that banks find it cheaper to recompense clients rather than upgrade their security. The hackers are pretty damn clever.
Hi Mel, Yep, hard to believe, but apparently true.
It’s like a cautionary tale.
Devon, I’m pretty lazy about passwords, but I’m definitely motivated by money! Even if you don’t do anything else, I’d suggest very strongly that you change your bank passwords - um, TODAY?
Elaine, you’re amazing. *blinks* But then you have such a organised mind, unlike me…
Hi Denise,
I hear your pain. Ugh.
I went and counted mine there’s over 15 different ones.
OMG. who would have thought I had that many.
Now that I buy many books on line- (e-books and hard copy) there’s one for each publishing house as well. Banking, pay-pal, work web site,even passwords just to get on to loops to talk.
Then you have to remember the lower and uppercase ones.
Most incosequental ones I have documented. Banking ones etc are not of coarse.
4 years ago I had 3 passwords.
Well at least I don’t use 123. But if I knew it was that common I would have.
I use the same one all over the place except for very important passwords like the bank. I hate the phrase idea, one does have to be able to type the stupid thing. Sometimes a use a variation of my standard combined with a word that reminds me of the web sight especially if it is someone I order from regularly that stores credit card number. And to keep track, I use a spread sheet. Heaven help me though if my computer drinks coffee again.
Isn’t it amazing, Mary? A positive explosion of passwords! Apart from banking, I feel most anxious about my email account. Google runs my life, because I use the calendar and the task list as well as email. Can’t afford to lose that!
Ah, but Jenny, is your spreadsheet secure, hmm?
My bank makes me change my password every so often….it’s a pain trying to think up something that I’ll remember…*sigh*
I do use the same password for all my message boards though.
Know what you mean, Meg. After a while I fins I’ve used so many variations on the same theme that I’m completely confused.
[…] what is your take on them, Denise shares with us the top ten most used passwords. Scary, very […]
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