British National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) “Have I been powdered” Revealed 100,000 most common passwords collected by websites and encouragement to consider changing passwords that may appear on the list.
It’s hard to come up with a good password. Ideally, it is memorable and unique. Unfortunately, we are the product of our bias and culture, so sometimes a password that seems unique to us is shared by thousands of other people.
The top password goes to “123456”, which is used in 23.2 million accounts. The silver medal went to “123456789” with 7.7 million. These two are followed by “Qwerty”, “Password” and “1111111”, all of which have between 3 and 4 million users.
One of my favorites on the list is “trustno1”, which really shows that we’re better off advising than following it. More than 200,000 people use the word “secret” which is funny in itself.
“We understand that cybersecurity can be daunting to a lot of people, but the NCSC has come up with a lot of easy-to-apply tips to make you less risky,” said Dr. Ian Levy said in a statement.
The company has highlighted some common groups such as musicians (Blink 182, 50 cents, Eminem), fictional characters (Superman, Naruto, Tiger), and names (Ashley, Michael, Daniel).
“Using a hard-to-guess password is a powerful first step, and we recommend a combination of three random but memorable words. Be creative and use your memorable words so people don’t guess your password.”
“It’s a big risk that password avoidance can be avoided – no sensitive data that anyone can guess, such as their first name, local football team, or favorite band, should be protected.
About 46 percent thought the information on staying safe online was misleading. More than half of those surveyed think a lot about how to avoid having their money stolen or their privacy compromised. NCSC has released the results of a survey on online safety. Thirty percent of those interviewed said they didn’t care too much about staying safe online. Bringing good passwords or using different passwords for different accounts is the easiest way to improve their online security.
