It’s easy to make a mistake when you’re working with computers. You can delete files that haven’t been backed up yet, close documents without saving first, click on a malicious email by accident, or even spill your coffee on a keyboard. Many of these problems are easily prevented while some can happen to even the best of us, but there is one problem that simply should not exist, and that’s the problem of a weak password.
I remember the days when I used to create user accounts for new employees. I had complaints that my system of passwords consisting of random numbers and letters was too complicated. People were forgetting their passwords. So I made the default password on new accounts the word ‘password’ and told new users to change it as soon as they logged in to whatever they wanted. A couple months after this new system was in place I discovered that two different people were still using the default password ‘password’. The next day we went back to the random numbers and letters.
It turns out I’m not the only one to experience users with passwordophobia. A list of the 25 worst passwords of 2011 has been released by Splashdata, a smartphone application developer, which does have a password manager application. The list (see below) of terrible passwords was complied from files containing millions of passwords that hackers posted online. These hackers will try the passwords on this list with frequent success before turning to their computer skills to break into systems.
Passwords don’t need to be complicated with 16 characters, numbers, capitals, symbols, and a fraction thrown in for good measure, but they do need to be different. Your favorite football team might not be a good idea for a password, especially if your desktop is proudly displaying its logo, but maybe the first name of your favourite player followed by the number of your second favourite player would be a good password. That kind of password is difficult to guess, but you’ll have no problem remembering it.
Another few tips to help you create a great password:
1) Use eight characters and make two or three of them numbers or symbols
2) Don’t be afraid to use spaces. Write a brief sentence as your password. “My dog loves bananas”.
3) Use a different password for different logins.
4) Don’t use your username as your password.
5) Don’t use any of the passwords on the list below.
Worst 25 passwords of 2011:
· password
· 123456
· 12345678
· qwerty
· abc123
· monkey
· 1234567
· letmein
· trustno1
· dragon
· baseball 111111
· iloveyou
· master
· sunshine
· ashley
· bailey
· passw0rd
· shadow
· 123123
· 654321
· superman
· qazwsx
· michael
· football