Passwords are an extremely important part of being online, and everybody knows it, right?
Well, apparently not. Mashable got a hold of a list of the most common passwords used in America, and frankly, they're not too good. Some might even call them dumb.
There are 10 in all, but here are the five most-used passwords in the US that will surely get anybody with common sense doing a facepalm. They're all ranked by how many times they were used.
"123456": 3,572,081 times
"password": 1,730,765 times
""12345": 958,799 times
"123456789": 873,522 times
"password1": 666,746 times
The data comes from NordPass.com, where you can check out the full list for yourself. And there, it is made evident why using these extremely weak passwords a dumb idea: the US is one of the world's leaders in data breach cases via the number of password leaks per capita.
If you manage to find your password in Nord's list, then maybe it is time you change it to something much stronger. And that's where this guide comes in.
Creating Strong Passwords: The Basics
If there's one thing you should know about the internet, it's that your data is never safe online. Every single bit of personal information (especially critical ones like bank details or home addresses) are vulnerable to prying eyes.
Passwords serve as a sort of your second line of defense. If you lose it, somebody else gets to access your account, allowing them to use it for potentially nefarious purposes.
As such, creating a strong password is critical to avoid falling victim to a data breach. CNET laid down a few rules when it comes to making a strong password, and here are the most important ones:
Never use anything directly related to you, such as a nickname, a pet's name, or even your phone number. Avoid literally anything that can be found out from social media or any other online profiles you maintain.
Make the password longer. 8 characters is a good start, but you can extend it for as long as you like (or as long as a website lets you). By giving hackers more characters, you increase their odds of getting combinations wrong.
How To Remember Strong Passwords
Here's one trick that's absolutely guaranteed to not let you lose a strong password: write it down.
Not digitally, but physically. Take a pen and a paper, write it down, put it somewhere you're familiar with, and you're all good. This method is deceptively simple and completely unhackable, and you cannot argue against it.
PCMag also shares a few tricks to remember strong passwords. One interesting method is to create one based on a favorite line of dialog from a movie, favorite lyrics, or even a favorite line from a poem, then derive a system from it.
Here's an example, from the classic "Romeo And Juliet:"
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
To make a secure password out of it that's easy to remember, take all of the first letters of every word, capitalize every stressed syllable, and perhaps keep the pronunciation. It's going to look like this:
bS,wLtYdWdB?
You can do this with whatever song, movie line, lyric, or line of poetry you can think of. That way, you'll get to remember extremely unique passwords off the top of your head. The mere fact that you don't have to write them down adds an even greater level of security.
For the love of everything good, get rid of "password" as your password. You need to start protecting your information online.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
