Strong and Weak Passwords
Every now and then a popular website gets hacked and tons of user passwords are published for everyone to see. On one side, it can potentially lead to huge losses to the users whose passwords have been compromised. On the other, security analysts use the data to gain various insights.
In one such recent attack, Robert Graham, the CEO of Errata Security, came to a few startling conclusions based on the passwords published showing what should not be your password:
- 16% of passwords matched a person’s first name
- 14% of passwords were patterns on the keyboard
- 4% are variations of the word “password”
- 5% of passwords are pop-culture references
- 4% of passwords appear to reference things nearby
- 3% of passwords are “emo” words
- 3% are “don’t care” words
- 1.3% are passwords people saw in movies/TV
- 1% are sports related
You can read the complete report here.
Password management is a big hassle that every Internet user has to deal with today. Apart from the regular ones that I use, I try out new products and services all the time and have over 50 different accounts as I speak. So I use a password management software called KeePass, which is open source. In the past, Jesse suggested several others like Billeo, Vidoop and Passpack. These softwares usually are also capable of generating strong passwords or you can use an online service like the Strong Password Generator to generate a password for you.
The most basic rule is to use a long combination of small and capital letters, numbers and symbols. Read this Microsoft Security article about how to create and use strong passwords.
