Password use

LaurieLovesLearning

What passwords do you use? Food for thought...

A study on Canadian most used password use in 2023, conducted by cybersecurity company NordPass, is as follows.

1. 123456 (4.5 million uses) Takes less than one second for hackers to crack. Canada uses this combination the most worldwide.

2. admin (4 million) Takes less than one second for hackers to crack.

3. 12345678 (1.4 million)

4. 123456789 (1.2 million)

5. 1234 (969,811)

6. 12345 (728,414)

Clear global trends: weakest passwords are used for streaming, and strongest passwords are used for financial accounts. Users also often use the relevant brand’s or company’s name when creating a password (iPhone6s, Samsung1, 1messenger).

Thirty-one percent of the world’s most popular passwords are numerical sequences such as 123456789, 12345 and 000000.

I bet most passwords are equally as weak worldwide. If you have information about your country's password use, it could be interesting to compare what they might be.

* The Western Standard, Nov. 18, 2023, was my source of the information above.

water2world

@LaurieLovesLearning Interesting---Glad I don't use those!

kbmbillups1

Wow! I've never thought of using them. But then passwords don't seem to stop the bad guys. They only stop me because I can't remember them.

Torey

Just as bad as using one of these number combinations is using the same password for multiple uses or websites. Once they are into one, they can get into all your other accounts.

I have a different password for each site that I register on. Its cumbersome but I have a paper list of all my passwords so I don't forget.

Also, don't allow your computer to save your passwords as this is another way anyone can access all your accounts if they have access to your computer.

VermontCathy

• Change your passwords frequently
• Don't use the same password on multiple logins
• Don't use English words
• Do use your own made-up acronyms; pick a sentence you can remember, and make your password the first letter of each word. (Add numbers and punctuation.)
• Do make your passwords fairly long. At least 8 characters is good, more is better.
• If you double a pattern to make your password longer, don't double it completely. Skip the last character. For example, EgbdfEgbdf is not as secure as EgbdfEgbd.

The above suggestions are standard. But I have one more suggestion that goes against the standard wisdom of the industry.

Do write your passwords down, not electronically, but on paper. Pick passwords that are difficult and seem random, which means you will have trouble remembering them. But that's not a problem if they are written down.

The idea that you should be able to remember your password without writing it down causes many people to pick simple passwords that are easily cracked. But the risk of someone breaking in and getting your password notebook is slim. The real risk is remote electronic access to your accounts, and what matters is the difficulty and randomness of the password, not whether you have written it down.