PASSWORD:
A secret series of characters – numbers – symbols that enables you to access files, computers, or web sites. On computing devices or web sites you must enter a password before the computing device or web site will respond to you. The password helps ensure that unauthorized people do not access the computing device or web site.
Ideally, the password should be something that nobody could guess. Sometimes people choose a password that is easy to remember, such as their name or their initials.
Below are two separate Worst Password Lists:
25 "Worst Passwords"
If you see your password below, STOP! Do not finish reading this and immediately go change your password -- before you forget.
1. password
2. 123456
3.12345678
4. qwerty (keyboard characters all in a row)
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. passwOrd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football
Imperva looked at 32 million passwords stolen from RockYou, a hacked website, and released the Top 10 list:
1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123
Here are some tips for creating strong passwords:
It should contain at least eight characters.
It should contain a mix of two or more of the following different types of characters - upper case letters (KBS), lower case letters (ghsj), numbers (384), and special characters such as (!@#$%^&*).
If there is only one letter or special character within your password, then it should not be the first or last character in the password.
Try not to use a name, a slang word, or any word in the dictionary.
It should not include any part of your name or your e-mail address.
If you write down your passwords, don't include a list of the sites and services that the password works with. Try to use a different password on every service, but if you can't do that, at least develop a set of passwords that you use at different sites.
Remember that a password is a secret series of characters. Therefore, you should never give your password to anyone.
Technology is continually advancing and someday, we will likely use new authentication schemes like biometrics, but in the meantime, passwords are our front line defense against unauthorized access to our systems, information, etc, so they ought to be strong enough to do the job.