For all those of you who didn’t get the memo yet, ‘password’ is one of the worst passwords you can think of. So is ‘123456.’ SplashData has made a list of the worst watchwords of 2013 and guess what? Comparing 2012’s lineup to the current one, ‘password’ has been ousted by ‘123456’ and the latter now takes the top spot as the most badly (or lazily) thought up password of the year gone by.
Take the Telepathwords test:
Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon University had joined hands over an online tool to help people find out if their passwords are weak or strong. The software tries to predict the next character of your watchword as you type, with red crosses indicating letters that could be guessed by it.
All you have to do is follow this link and start hitting out your security key. Your passwords are not stored by the system. But do note that since you’re not required to submit any information before using the tool, it may not be able to guess watchwords based on personal information such as your name, high school, favorite dish and so on.
Making a password out of random words separated by special characters has been recommended. Additionally, it’d be best not to use the same one for all your online IDs. If you know how to create strong security keys but have trouble remembering them, numerous password managers including SplashID Safe are available.
As for the SplashData compilation, it took hints from the user passwords published by Stricture Consulting Group after an Adobe security breach made it to the headlines. The top 5 worst choices made by people for protecting their online accounts were as follows:
1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
Were you guilty of bumping any of these passwords to the top of the list? Honest answers, please!