Technology and security company SplashData has released their new list of the most common passwords found online over the last year, and there is some encouraging news! For the first time ever, the painfully obvious “password” did not rank No.1! The bad news is, it was replaced by “123456” as the Internet’s most popular password. Along with some old favorites (“abc123”, “qwerty” and “letmein”), the list even had a few newcomers, most notably the nearly impossible to crack “123456789”. To compile the list, SplashData reviewed data files containing millions of stolen passwords that were posted online. The company’s CEO said that by posting the list, they hope to raise awareness about “how risky it is to use weak passwords” and encourage users to “start taking simple steps to protect themselves by using stronger passwords.” Michael Scott Protip: If you come up with a really complicated password that’s hard to remember, just write it down on a sticky note, and affix it to your laptop or mobile device. There, problem solved …
