Top 25 passwords of 2014, and by top, I mean the worst

2014 was a year abundant in tech fails. From the disclosure of the NSA’s mass surveillance, to the hacking of Target, Home Depot, and Sony Pictures, there were plenty of “lol’s” to go around. Not that security failures and hacking are a laughing matter, unless of course the victim brought it upon themselves by being too lazy to come up with passwords more complex than “qwerty” or “123456.”

According to the yearly list of the worst possible passwords on the Internet (compiled by SplashDash, the password management solution provider), the top three most common passwords of 2014 are “123456,” “password,” and “12345.” 

Here’s the complete list:
1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345
4. 12345678
5. qwerty
6. 123456789
7. 1234
8. baseball
9. dragon
10. football
11. 1234567
12. monkey
13. letmein
14. abc123
15. 111111
16. mustang
17. access
18. shadow
19. master
20. michael
21. superman
22. 696969
23. 123123
24. batman
25. trustno1

At least we’ve somewhat progressed to integers: the number one worst password in 2013, which was “password,” has slipped down to number two. Better yet, number 25 on the list — “trustno1” — attempts to mix both integers and variables. 

Nonetheless, there are of number of steps that users can take to drastically increase password security, some of which involve minimal effort. The most effective way to improve password security is to create a completely arbitrary string that mixes variable, integers, and symbols in the following manner: S*3j@jnf0_1!,f.  But, since remembering such a complex password is near impossible, a password management system is required to consolidate all passwords within a single location. Most competent software in this category offers an optional two-step authentication via smartphone or fingerprint to further improve security.

For those who can’t be bothered with such intricacies or don’t trust a password manager, don’t worry, there are still a few best-practices that will create a relatively strong and memorable password. Simply take something you’ll remember — a word whose connection to you isn’t extremely obvious, is ideal —and add a mixture of capital letters, integers, and numbers. For example, Cr@zyC@tL@dy88 is significantly more difficult to crack than crazycatlady88 or crazycatlady. Play around with these and decide on something that works for you.
 
Lastly, adopt the practice of typing in all passwords with the on-screen keyboard feature of Windows (or Mac OS), this way a computer infected with a keylogger has no way of recording key strokes. If you’re using Windows OS, you’ll find the function under start -> accessories -> ease of access -> On-Screen Keyboard.

Source: SplashDash