The Most Popular Computer Passwords
According to PC Magazine, these are the most popular computer passwords:
1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace
8. password1
9. link182
10. (your first name)
If you just saw your password above, it's probably time for a password change. Hackers know these are the most popular passwords, so these are going to be the ones they try first.
Of course, not all passwords are equally important. For instance, you'd be in a lot more trouble if your bank account password gets hacked than if your defunct myspace account gets hacked. But for anything important, you should make sure you have a better password than "123456" or "link182" (or should that be blink182, PC Mag? I'm going to assume that was a PC Magazine typo).
According to Microsoft online safety, you can increase the safety of your password by using a varied combination of letters, symbols and numbers and by choosing these from the entire keyboard instead of just using the most common characters.
One suggestion is to start with a sentence that has some kind of meaning to you, then use only the first letter of each word in the sentence. Then, add numbers and symbols. This will result in a password that makes sense to you and that you can remember, but is hard for other people to guess.
Besides the top ten most popular passwords above, you should avoid using dictionary words, sequences or repeating characters when forming a password. Don't use personal information such as your name, family member names, birth date, phone number, driver's license number, or any other similar information. Words in foreign languages or hacker terminology should also be avoided, because hackers can also easily guess these passwords.
In the digital age, a password is all that stands between your bank account and the rest of the world. It's important to create a secure password to keep your personal information and money safe.
Source: PC Magazine
Published by Jan Hewitt
I am a journalist and world traveler, who specializes in travel writing, financial news, technology, and education. Most recently, I've been based in Europe writing about technology, but my motto is my home... View profile
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2 Comments
Post a CommentLOl -I am still trying to figuure out what password I put down for facebook.
very well done :D