The 10 Most Common Passwords
August 26, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under General, safety
Identity theft hits close to home for me. It was only a few years ago that a family member’s social security number was used by someone in a respected profession to obtain a credit card. Fortunately, this issue was caught pretty quickly, thanks to the credit card company’s rule of activating the credit card only from the applicant’s phone.
It is disturbing that our identity and social security information has to be so carefully guarded, but even more upsetting is how someone can damage our credit if they obtain our personal information. According to PC Magazine, we are can make ourselves vunerable through the passwords that we choose for our email, online banking, and other accounts. PC Magazine has compiled a list of the 10 most common passwords. If you’re using one of these passwords, then you might be setting yourself up for trouble.
- password
- 123456
- qwerty
- abc123
- letmein
- monkey
- myspace1
- password1
- link182
- (your first name)
When choosing a password, it is best to choose one that has both letters and numbers. Also, be sure to choose one that isn’t obvious to others.
Is your password difficult to figure out?
image sxc.hu
People who have helped me set up password-protected programs look at me strangely when I tell them my password choice. I spent a couple of years working on an Arabian farm that specialized in Russian-bred Arabians, many that were imported. I like to use the horses’ names. I figure no one is going to guess, oh, say, “Nariadniaa” or “Prokeznitza” – and no, those are not names I’ve ever used. I give them just as examples.