Getting into the WordPress tool to put up this post, I had to put in a password. When I woke up this morning to get started on writing news articles for Mobile Magazine, I had to input my password. When it came time to check on my AGLOCO account, guess what, another password. In this age of online everything, we are bent on keep everything secure — as we should be — but far too many people don’t pay enough attention to the passwords they create.
The whole point of an online password is to keep everyone out of your business, but if this password is too easy to guess, it kind of defeats the whole purpose. That’s why proponents in the industry suggest that a “strong” password consists of both letters and numbers, including an upper-case letter or two. If the system allows it, they even suggest that you toss in a random symbol like @ or $. Alas, most people keep their passwords as actual words, all in lower-case. But what are the most common passwords that people use?
According to newlaunches.com, PC Magazine has a list in their upcoming issue (May 8) of the top ten most common online passwords. Here they are:
1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. blink182
10. (your first name)
The first few don’t surprise me all that much, but what’s up with letmein (let me in), monkey, and blink182? Those are just… weird.
Anyways, remember the importance of a good password. And don’t use any of those listed above.
Anyone lazy or dumb enough to set their password as something like “password” almost deserves to have their account/profile/whatever hacked.
I used “password1” for a long time. 😀
Some of those passwords which got in really was surprising. I was afraid my own password was on the list and you also wonder how PC Magazine did the survey.
Anyway, a great post so I am making this the “Post of the Day” for my “Post Awards” blog.
http://postawards.blogspot.com/
What!!! How did they get my password list!?! I wonder if “Mychemicalromance” is a stronger password than “blink182”?
No, because at least blink182 has numbers in it. A stronger password would be Bl!nK182, 5ivef0rFIGHT!ng, or 2P@cSha|<ur 🙂
Haha!! Why do I get the feeling that you’ve actually used those? 🙂
Hahhah How did you come to use Monkey as a password..
MyCh3m1c@lR0manc3
would be a great password for Kumiko. Thing is that it’s that damned difficult to remember that you’d probably lock the account out before you got in yourself!
I have one of the worlds hardest passwords to guess and the easiest one for my friends to remember.
123456? That’s the same password I have on my luggage!
Oh, great, you just gave away all of my passwords!
LOL, just kidding. 😀
Monkey, LOL, random.