Seriously, stop using the word ‘password’ as your password
FILE – In this Friday, Feb. 7, 2003 file photo, an Israeli soldier stands in front of a closed computer store as he conducts document checks of Palestinians in the southern West Bank town of Hebron. The Israeli military told the media Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010, that is banning soldiers from using social media sites in an attempt to prevent security leaks and embarrassing videos going viral. The measure is aimed at preventing sensitive information from reaching its “enemies” via Facebook, Twitter and other popular sites. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
Seriously, 123456 is not a good computer password. Neither is the word “password” very useful as a password.
In fact, the two above-mentioned passwords were rated the worst passwords of 2013, according to the password management company SplashData, which released its annual list of the top 25 worst passwords of 2013 this week.
To rate the bad passwords, SplashData used files that were posted online containing hacked passwords from the last year.
Notably this year, password was no longer the worst password. It was knocked into the No. 2 spot by 123456, which is currently the worst password. Passwords featuring variations on the words “adobe” and “photoshop” also made an appearance on the list this year, due to Adobe’s giant password breach in October where millions of accounts were hacked.
The full list:
1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. 123456789
7. 111111
8. 1234567
9. iloveyou
10. adobe123
11. 123123
12. admin
13. 1234567890
14. letmein
15. photoshop
16. 1234
17. monkey
18. shadow
19. sunshine
20. 12345
21. password1
22. princess
23. azerty
24. trustno1
25. 000000
And here’s a little tip from SplashData, which probably goes without saying: “The company advises consumers or businesses using any of the passwords on the list to change them immediately.”
Remember, when it comes to online safety trustno1.