EZ TIPS - The Path to Perfect Passwords

By: Chris Bachman | January 15, 2014 | Print

The rules governing passwords and what is considered reasonably safe are pretty well understood. However, a survey in 2013 showed that of a random sampling of 1000 internet users, fully 77% had passwords that could be broken by off the shelf software in a matter of minutes. Essentially they are sitting ducks. Don’t want to end up a duck on a scammer’s dinner table? Follow these 10 rules to a safe password.

Yes, some of these are surprisingly obvious but you would be amazed how many people think it will never happen to them…until it does.

Password Tips

• DO NOT share your password via email, text, instant message, or on social media sites



• DO NOT create a password using your spouse’s name or that or your kids or pets



• DO NOT use your name as your password



• DO NOT create passwords that can be figured out by what you post on your social media sites



• DO NOT offer up your password to any request from an email or phone call, no matter how official it seems.



• DO NOT use the same password for everything



• DO mix it up. Mixing in symbols, numerals and even case changes can dramatically increase the difficulty of cracking a password.



• DO change all of your passwords at least twice a year



• DO use a password management program – you only need remember one password then, to get into it



• DO make it longer. The longer the password the more difficult it is to crack. 6 characters is minimum, 8-10 great, more than 10 is world-class. Every character you add increases the security many fold.

Most Used Passwords

So, what are the most popular passwords people use? In order of popularity we have shared them below. These are the passwords that are cracked in the first 1 second of a program crunching possible passwords. Heck, you could probably walk around the office and try them on your co-workers machines. Chances are you will get into one.

• password
• 123456
• 12345678
• abc123
• qwerty
• monkey
• letmein
• dragon
• 111111
• baseball
• iloveyou
• trustno1
• oneeyedtibetanyakdog (ok…I made that one up)
• 1234567
• sunshine
• master
• 123123
• welcome
• shadow
• ashley
• football
• jesus
• michael
• ninja
• mustang
• password1

 

Summary

The danger when I discuss passwords is that people's eye glaze over and they get this, "I Know, I know" look on their face. Problem is, they may know but they still don't do anything about it. Passwords are pretty easy to crack with any number of programs you can buy on line. Please, take a few minutes and implement these suggestions, maybe turn on your firewall too....remember that?

Chris Bachman is a business consultant and Project Director at ProClassWebDesign.com as well as a self confessed serial entrepreneur. He is a regular writer on topics pertaining to marketing, SEO, and business websites as well as an instructor and independent consultant. Learn more about Chris Bachman on Google+ or LinkedIn.