Benefits December 31, 2012

Make a Resolution to Change Your Passwords

December 31, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Here's a New Year’s resolution to add to your list – make better passwords.
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Many people continue to put themselves at risk by using weak, easily guessable passwords, according to SplashData, which recently released its annual “25 Worst Passwords of the Year” list.

The top three passwords, “password,” “123456,” and “12345678,” remain unchanged from last year’s list.

The worst passwords with their 2012 ranking compared to 2011 are:

1. password (Unchanged)
2. 123456 (Unchanged)
3. 12345678 (Unchanged)
4. abc123 (Up 1)
5. qwerty (Down 1)
6. monkey (Unchanged)
7. letmein (Up 1)
8. dragon (Up 2)
9. 111111 (Up 3)
10. baseball (Up 1)
11. iloveyou (Up 2)
12. trustno1 (Down 3)
13. 1234567 (Down 6)
14. sunshine (Up 1)
15. master (Down 1)
16. 123123 (Up 4)
17. welcome (New)
18. shadow (Up 1)
19. ashley (Down 3)
20. football (Up 5)
21. jesus (New)
22. michael (Up 2)
23. ninja (New)
24. mustang (New)
25. password1 (New) 

The list was compiled from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers, who can be thwarted by using less guessable passwords.

“Even though each year hacking tools get more sophisticated, thieves still tend to prefer easy targets,” said Morgan Slain, SplashData CEO. “Just a little bit more effort in choosing better passwords will go a long way toward making you safer online.”

SplashData suggests making passwords more secure with these tips:

  • Use passwords of eight characters or more with mixed types of characters. One way to create longer, more secure passwords that are easy to remember is to use short words with spaces or other characters separating them. For example, “eat cake at 8!” or “car_park_city?”
  • Avoid using the same username/password combination for multiple websites. Especially risky is using the same password for entertainment sites that you do for online e-mail, social networking, and financial services. Use different passwords for each website.
  • Having trouble remembering all those different passwords? Try using a password manager application that organizes and protects passwords and can automatically log you into websites.

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