Passage: The worst computer passwords
It happened this week: the release of the annual list of WORST computer passwords, compiled by the online security firm Splashdata – worst, in this case, meaning the passwords in most common use and therefore most easily guessed by a hacker.
No time to review them all, so herewith, some highlights:
Number 25 is "0-0-0-0-0-0," which, with just a few more zeroes, was the "unbreakable" top-secret launch code for every Minuteman nuclear missile in the United States during the early 1970s, according to a report on The New Yorker website.
Number 24 is "trustno1" -- get it? -- which naive computer users apparently trust no one could ever guess.
Skipping ahead to Number 18 we find "shadow" -- mistakenly believed to foil the evil that lurks in the hearts of hackers.
At number 14 there's "letmein" -- an open door invitation to hackers everywhere.
Coming in ninth is "iloveyou" -- which may be a better Valentine than password.
In seventh place we find "1-1-1-1-1-1" -- not exactly an improvement over all those zeroes.
In fourth place there's "qwerty" -- guessable only by those who have ever looked at a keyboard.
Skipping around again, we find the second most common password is "password." Clever! But perhaps not quite clever enough.
And finally, the LEAST secure password of them all, the digits "1-2-3-4-5-6" -- guaranteed to let hackers everywhere do a number on you.
For REAL security, experts recommend using letters and numbers and symbols to form complex passwords that you should never, EVER write down or share.
That way, your computer can't be accessed by anybody -- including, once you've forgotten your password, YOU.
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