The Top 25 Worst Passwords of 2011

On the daily basis, several accounts of internet users are been compromised due to low level of security that the owner is making use of to protect his/her account. Many internet users don’t know the difference between having a strong password and just having a password. Many believes that password is just password and that makes many of them to neglect making their password secure at all the time online.

To be frank, losing your password to hackers and other is one of the saddest thing that might ever happened to you while online. The reason is because, when people lost their details to hackers, it means that they will as well lose some other useful properties which may hurt them badly at the end.

According to stats, one of the main reason why people lost their data online is because of their misuse of passwords. Passwords serves as the key to all your files and data while you are online just like the normal key you are using to enter your home. So, you need to keep it away from thieves and that is why in this article, I shall be listing here the top 25 worst password combination recorded this year.

There was a company that based on researching about how people are getting hacked online and then sharing some of the tips and other precautions to help them avoid the same mistakes next time, the company is called SplashData.

The Top 25 Worst Passwords of 2011

SplashData created this rankings based on the millions of stolen passwords that are posted on the internet by different hackers and below are the full lists of the passwords:

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

The CEO of Splash Data, Morgan Slain, urges businesses and consumers that are using any password on the list to change them immediately to something much more better than this to avoid hacking attempts.

“Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by repeatedly trying common passwords,” Slain says. “Even though people are encouraged to select secure, strong passwords, many people continue to choose weak, easy-to-guess ones, placing themselves at risk from fraud and identity theft.”

However, Splash Data offers internet users tips to help them create an interesting hard-to-break passwords by saying that:

1. Use different types of characters in your passwords; include letters, numbers and special characters if possible.
2. Make sure that when you are choosing passwords, you choose up to eight characters or more of password. Separate short words with underscores or spaces.
3. Avoid using the same poassword and username you’ve used somewhere else on many websites as this can prove to be dangerous for you. You can as well make use of an online password manager to keep track of all your different accounts on the net.

Have you lost your password before online? Let’s hear how you get it back or you’ve lost your data due to password issue? Share and let’s learn