Passwords are an important part of our increasingly digital life, and they are used to safeguard key parts of our lives from those who would potentially do harm. From financial resources to home photos, passwords serve as the gateway to our technological needs. So it would seem logical that a good password is something to take some thought in creating.
SplashData, a password management app maker, has found that a lot of people simply don't give passwords their due diligence. By scouring stolen passwords that were later released online, they have come up with their list of 25 worst passwords for 2011.
As you view the list, I hope that one or more of yours is not on it. But if so, or even if it is close, now might be a good time to take corrective action. If you don't feel that creative, there are many resources that will help you generate custom passwords, yours for the googling, or even better use a passphrase (see infobox below). Please note, if it is really easy for you to remember, then a potential thief might just find that really easy to guess from all too common personal information out there.
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1. password 2. 123456 3. 12345678 4. qwerty 5. abc123 |
6. monkey 7. 1234567 8. letmein 9. trustno1 10. dragon |
11. baseball 12. 111111 13. iloveyou 14. master 15. sunshine |
16. ashley 17. bailey 18. passw0rd 19. shadow 20. 123123 |
21. 654321 22. superman 23. qazwsx 24. michael 25. football |
Passphrase
A passphrase is a sequence of words or other text used to control access to a computer system, program or data. A passphrase is similar to a password in usage, but is generally longer for added security. Passphrases are often used to control both access to, and operation of, cryptographic programs and systems. Passphrases are particularly applicable to systems that use the passphrase as an encryption key. The origin of the term is by analogy with password. The modern concept of passphrases is believed to have been invented by Sigmund N. Porter in 1982.
source:wikipedia
