Technology

And the worst passwords of 2013 are…

Seriously, stop using the word ‘password’ as your password

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.

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