Thursday, January 23, 2014

Is Password Protection not a Big Deal to You?

Common-Password-Protection


Last year was a big year concerning password protection.  We saw Target and Adobe get hacked, a slue of malware on the internet, phishing scams all over social media sites and even our own personal emails filled with spam.

If password protection is still not a big deal to you, then you should think again.

You would think after seeing major corporations hacked and personal security being compromised, we would take more time creating passwords that aren’t so simple to crack.

The most commonly stolen passwords are still “123456″ and “password”.  This doesn’t only mean “123456″ and “password” is the easiest for cybercriminals to guess, but those are the most common passwords used by people!

“123456” is finally getting some time in the spotlight as the world’s worst password, after spending years in the shadow of “password.” – Splashdata Security Firm

Weaker passwords are much more susceptible to brute-force attacks.  Hackers first off attempt to access accounts through rapid guessing.


Password-Protection-List


Even though common words and phrases are easier to remember, they are also easier for hackers to determine.  Some people tend to replace similar looking words with letters (like “3″ instead of “E”, or “0″ instead of “O”).  Although, it is good to put a variation of characters into your password, this is still not an effective strategy, at least for sensitive accounts.

There are many password management programs that can you can extremely benefit from.  Try LastPass, KeePass or SplashID.


These programs will maintain all your accounts and all you have to do is remember one master password.
Here is a full list of the worst passwords in 2013:

  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

If you have an account with any of these passwords, consider it a major fail.  Please change your password immediately.

As more people are doing their banking, bill paying, and buying items online, this problem is only getting worse.

How secure is your password protection?  Tell us what you think in the comment section below!

References:

The 25 worst passwords of 2013: ‘password’ gets dethroned – PC World
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2089244/the-25-worst-passwords-of-2013-password…

’123456′ assumes the ‘worst password of 2013′ throne – Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/01/21/worst-password-2013-named/

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