The 10 most Hacked Passwords

You have more than likely watched a movie or seen a TV show were someone sits at a computer makes a guess at a password and gets in.

You always question it, thinking to yourself is it really that easy?

It can be really easy. The best way to crack a password is to use the names, dates and things that might be important to the user. (Examples are Wife's Name, Kids Name, High School Name, Birthday).

A recent study by Imperva found that:

• The shortness and simplicity of passwords means many users select credentials that will make them susceptible to basic forms of cyber attacks known as “brute force attacks.
• Nearly 50% of users used names, slang words, dictionary words or trivial passwords (consecutive digits, adjacent keyboard keys, and so on). The most common password is “123456”.

The report also found that these are the top 10 most common passwords.


1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123


My recommendation for a password strategy is to use a phrase and take the first letter out of each word in the phrase. For example. I went to school in 2010. The password cold be Iwtsi2010. That is a difficult password that is easy to remember.

I have discovered if you make the password you have very complex, you have a difficult time remembering it.  This usually leads to a a password that is written down on sticky note and can be found on a desk. This is almost worse than a weak password.


Also do not forget to use separate passwords for your Bank and trading accounts. If you primary password is compromised, you at least have a different password for these critical accounts.


(The Link to this study can be located here http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=8742)