Christmas is just days away and no doubt there’ll be many people receiving gifts of technology which will require passwords. So how do you ensure that those shiny new devices don’t make you a target for hackers?
Internet security firm SplashData has released their annual guide to helping, or hindering, hackers. They’ve been taking a look at the worst passwords used online in 2017 and have come up with their list of the top 100 worst passwords. The thing that makes them the worst is that they’re the most common, meaning that those with less than honourable intention will be using them to try to break your security.
If you see your password among the top twenty-five below, your data is in serious danger. It’s time to change your passwords or get ready to get hacked.
- 123456
- Password
- 12345678
- qwerty
- 12345
- 123456789
- letmein
- 1234567
- football
- iloveyou
- admin
- welcome
- monkey
- login
- abc123
- starwars
- 123123
- dragon
- passw0rd
- maste
- hello
- freedom
- whatever
- qazwsx
- trustno1
As in previous lists, simple numerical passwords remain popular, with five of the top 10 passwords on the 2017 list using only numbers. Then there are all the usual favourites such as ‘password’, ‘starwars’ and for those trying to be a little tricky, but failing, ‘passw0rd’.
If you want to create stronger and less hacker-friendly passwords you should be using at least 12 characters with a combination of upper and lowercase letters and characters. You should also ensure that you use different passwords for different websites.
If you’re looking for a better solution you might like to try a password manager application.
I’ve been using LastPass for many years. It’s a password manager which makes web browsing more secure. It will keep all your passwords secure and help you generate strong passwords.
Nothing can really guarantee you won’t get hacked, especially if one of the services you use is hacked, exposing even the best passwords, but it’s worth putting a bit of effort into keeping your data secure.
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