Advertisement
Shutterstock
Security

'123456' tops list of worst passwords of 2013

Other gems included “abc123,” “qwerty,” “iloveyou,” and “password.”

FOR THOSE OF you who are using the same password for multiple services, you may want to change it when you get the chance.

Mobile software company Splashdata puts together a collection of the worst passwords every year, basing it on the number of stolen passwords posted online by hackers during 2013. This year’s list was influenced by the large number of accounts breached by the Adobe hacking which happened near the end of 2013.

This year, it was the password “123456″ which took top spot, knocking down  ”password” to second. Passwords featuring a combination of numbers and letters populated the list

The list of the worst passwords to use is as follows:

1. 123456

2. password

3. 12345678

4. qwerty

5. abc123

6. 123456789

7. 111111

8. 1234567

9. iloveyou

10. adobe123

11. 123123

12. admin

13. 1234567890

14. letmein

15. photoshop

16. 1234

17. monkey

18. shadow

19. sunrise

20. 12345

Splashdata recommends that you should use passwords of eight characters or more, create passphrases – short words with spaces or other characters separating them, and don’t use the same password for multiple sites.

And in case it wasn’t obvious already, it advises anyone who uses any of the passwords on the list to change them immediately.

Read: IT experts say your NTMA Prize Bonds password may not be stored securely >

Read: Irish employees would give away their passwords for vouchers and chocolate bars >

Your Voice
Readers Comments
22
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.