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Are You Using a Bad Password?

Do you think your password is unique? A recent report by SplashData revealed a compiled list of 100 worst passwords of 2018. The top 20 include:

  1. 123456 

  2. password 

  3. 123456789 

  4. 12345678 

  5. 12345 

  6. 111111 

  7. 1234567 

  8. Sunshine 

  9. Qwerty 

  10. iloveyou 

  11. Princess 

  12. Admin 

  13. Welcome 

  14. 666666 

  15. Abc123 

  16. Football 

  17. 123123 

  18. Monkey 

  19. 654321 

  20. !@#$%^&* 

While these passwords are some of the easiest to remember… they are also the easiest for someone to guess. Are any of your passwords on this list? According to SplashData, “Using these passwords will put anyone at substantial risk of being hacked and having their identities stolen”.

Password use is a part of our daily lives; we are using passwords daily to unlock our computer or mobile devices. We use passwords to access our email accounts, banking, social media, and more.

While passwords maintain security, it is considered one of the most vulnerable parts of the security mechanism. If not chosen carefully (and changed often), it can lead to complete unauthorized access of accounts.

There are various password cracking tools that are easily available online. In a matter of minutes or seconds a poorly created password could be cracked by an attacker.

So, how do you create a unique yet strong password?

Here is our recommendation for creating strong yet easily remembered password:

  1. Use at least 8 characters.

  2. Use a passphrase to make it easy to remember.

  3. Don’t ever use a single word that is in any dictionary.

  4. Use at least one number, one capitalized letter, one lowercase letter and one symbol.

  5. Use different passwords for each of your logins. That way, if a hacker gets access to one of your passwords, they won’t be able to access your other sites.

While complex passwords are important, we also recommend having a second layer of security for your systems. Our next blog post will discuss how you can easily make your accounts more secure.

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