There are multiple reports of websites getting hacked and personal data being stolen everyday and despite the overwhelming evidence that weak passwords are the culprit in many of the attacks, people on the web continue using incredibly weak passwords such as ‘12345,’ ‘password,’ ‘1234,’ and so on.
This is according to a survey carried out by Cyber Streetwise campaign late last year wherein it was highlighted that an estimated 75 per cent of Britons are still using passwords that can easily be guessed by humans let alone the automated advanced password brute-force tools available out there.
According to the survey result and analysis of password dumps of stolen data across the world, the most common password still used on the internet is ‘12345’ followed by ‘password’.
It’s understandable to a certain extent if the passwords are being used for a service that they are registering for the sake of registering or to just download a PDF and there is not need to divulge any personal information while registering, but there are instances wherein password dumps from stolen data of dating sites, utility services, mobile operators were revealed and even in these cases people have found to be using passwords that are pretty easy to crack.
All in all a combination of numbers in ascending order was found in five of the top 10 most used passwords. These passwords include ‘12345,’ ‘12345,’ ‘12345678,’ ‘123456789,’ and ‘1234’.
To a person who is even a little bit security aware, this would come as a shock. Passwords are a gatekeeper to the locker that may contain your personal information and it is always recommended that you use a half descent password and not just ‘12345’ or ‘password’ or even your first name or last name or date of birth.
