Do you want to get hacked?
Your personal information and identity stolen?
Your social media world upended?
Your bank account drained?
Your reputation ruined?
If not, then change your weak-ass passwords right now.
A new study done by artificial intelligence search analytics platform Peec AI in Berlin reveals the most-hackable, most-laughable, but still most-used passwords.
Peec AI may be from Germany, but its findings and warnings are useful around the world, including right here in BC, where stupid passwords are as likely to crop as anywhere else.
Peec AI used artificial intelligence to scrape over 100 million different passwords and global data breaches to determine the most easily detectable passwords in a bunch of categories.
The overall, worst, most-hackable, most-common, dumbest and most unimaginative password in use around the globe is: 123456.
It is so obvious, so easy for a cyber criminal (or your nosy spouse), either in person or remotely, to plug into a phone and computer to invade your privacy and rip off your identity and assets.
In fact, 123456 is still used by 6.6 million people around the world.
Another 2.3 million people thought they would outsmart the cyber crooks and upgraded their password to: 123456789.
For those that like something easy to remember, but also something wildly hackable, 'password' is the password used by a further 946,000 people worldwide.
The 'password' password is sandwiched between '111111' and 'qwerty' on the worst-ever list.
By the way, 'qwerty' is what you spell when you hit the first six letters on a keyboard from the top left.
I thought it was a pretty solid password because it's not a real word, but apparently it's also highly hackable.
Rounding out the list of the worst-ever, hacker-friendly passwords is: abc123 (like the 1970 Jackson 5 hit song), 12345678 (for those who thought they would outsmart the 123456 crowd), password1 (ditto), 1234567 (yes, really) and 123123 (for those loving simple repitition).
On the names list of hackable passwords, Michael, Daniel, Ashley and Jessica make top appearances.
The most popular years as passwords are 2013. 2010, 1986 and 1987.
As a shout out to your favourite soccer team, Liverpool, Chelsea and Barcelona are popular and hackable.
Or go straight to your favourite sport -- football, baseball, soccer, basketball -- or your beloved fictional character -- Superman, Batman, Wall-e or Hello Kitty -- or your prefered season -- summer, winter, spring, autumn.
"Considering the high volume of passwords leaked every year, along with the rise in scam and phishing reports, using obvious combinations like '123456' puts you and your personal information at risk," said Peec AI chief marketing officer Malte Landwehr.
"Attackers often use dictionaries and lists of common passwords in their attempts to crack passwords, so it's important to make yours as difficult as possible to guess."
Recommendations for strong passwords include making it at least 12 characters long, including a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters such as .,!&$%#, and mix up letters, numbers and symbols so they don't follow predictable patterns like '123456' or 'qwerty'.
Don't use names, birthdays, family members, pets or hobbies as passwords either.
Don't use the same password for multiple accounts because if a hacker guesses one they will then have them all.
You can keep track of your long, complex passwords by using a password manager.
Multi-factor authentication is also helpful because it adds an extra layer of protection by requiring a second method of verification, such as a temporary code texted to your phone.
That way, even if someone hacks your password, they won't be able to access your accounts because they don't have access to that second layer of verification.
