Good news! “Password” is no longer the most popular password, but “123456” has taken over the crown.
Looks like most of us are still really bad at selecting a secure password according to security firm SplashData, which just released its annual list of the most popular passwords across the Internet. Here’s the top 10:
The security firm put together this list by aggregating all the data taken from the year’s notable security breaches, including last year’s massive Adobe leak.
Here’s 5 things to consider when choosing your new password:
1. Use at least eight characters, the more characters the better really, but most people will find anything more than about 15 characters difficult to remember.
2. Use a random mixture of characters, upper and lower case, numbers, punctuation, spaces and symbols.
3. Don’t use a simple word found in a dictionary.
4. Choose a password that you can remember so that you don’t need to keep looking it up, this reduces the chance of somebody discovering where you have written it down.
5. Choose a password that you can type quickly, this reduces the chance of somebody discovering your password by looking over your shoulder.
