Things were a lot simpler then, to say the least. In those days, you had to use the dial–up method each time you went online. High–speed connections were still off in the future. Passwords were being used, but not for everything. The internet may have been a lucrative target for technologically minded criminals, but it was probably more on a business basis. There simply weren't enough individual users, regardless of their financial value, to make it worthwhile to prey on them.But things have changed.
Today, individuals can do so many things online that they could not do efficiently in the mid–1990s. They can go shopping without leaving their homes. They can look for a job or a new house. They can review their checking and savings account balances. They can search genealogical records for their ancestors. They can locate long–lost friends. In 2010, it almost seems as if there is nothing that cannot be done if one has a computer and an internet account.
The convenience of the internet has prompted a (pardon the pun) virtual explosion in users.
And, to gain access to almost all of their personal accounts, even free ones, for just about anything, they have to provide a user name and a password.
Humans are creatures of habit, I suppose. Some people — and I plead guilty to doing this myself on occasion — fall back on passwords they've been using for everything for more than a decade, and these passwords are usually simple. It makes it easier for the user to remember them, which seems to be a plus at a time when people have to remember so many passwords.
And, as both the New York Times and the Washington Post are reporting today, a recent analysis suggests that this practice leaves many internet users vulnerable.
Ashlee Vance of the New York Times calls it "the digital equivalent of a key under the doormat."
Last month, a still–unknown hacker gained access to a list of 32 million common passwords from a company that makes software for social networking sites. That list was posted briefly on the internet, where it could be accessed by both hackers and security researchers.
Today, the Times ran a list of the 32 most popular passwords from that list. Have you used — or do you use — any of these passwords?
- 123456
- 12345
- 123456789
- password
- iloveyou
- princess
- rockyou
- 1234567
- 12345678
- abc123
- nicole
- daniel
- babygirl
- monkey
- jessica
- lovely
- michael
- ashley
- 654321
- qwerty
- iloveu
- michelle
- 111111
- 0
- tigger
- password1
- sunshine
- chocolate
- anthony
- angel
- FRIENDS
- soccer
And, for more information that may help you make your passwords harder for hackers to detect, I recommend that you read the articles in today's Times and Post. Just follow the links in this post.
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