The 10 Most Dangerous Internet Passwords

Yesterday's news that a massive breach in the U.S. government’s Office of Personnel Management compromised the personal data of 21.5 million people is only the latest nightmarish cybersecurity story in the headlines. While big-name victims such as Anthem Inc ANTM, eBay Inc EBAY, Home Depot Inc HD and JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM have learned their lessons the hard way, cybersecurity stocks such as FireEye Inc FEYE and Palo Alto Networks Inc PANW have surged in the past year. The simplest hack However, just because the average person may not be a computer genius or a cybersecurity expert, it doesn’t mean he or she is completely helpless when it comes to protecting personal and business data. Although some of the recent attacks on large institutions likely involved a mind-boggling degree of complexity and digital savvy, one of the most common forms of hacking is simply guessing passwords. Dangerous passwords Although the intended purpose of a password is to serve as a unique code, a recent study by Trustwave found that a number of passwords are surprisingly common in the business world. While entries such as “Password1,” “P@ssword” and “password” are somewhat predictable, other surprisingly common passwords include “Summer1!” and “Fa$hion1.” These 10 passwords are among the most dangerous to use and the easiest for hackers to guess. If Trustwave knows them, you can bet that hackers know them as well, and they are likely among hackers’ first guesses. Password tips In addition to making sure your business passwords are not on the top 10 list, Trustwave also recently gave readers several tips on improving password security. The tips include using longer and more complex passwords, using multi-factor authentication that requires multiple forms of verification, and changing passwords frequently. The bottom line Unfortunately, there’s no way to guarantee that data is 100 percent safe from hackers. However, at the very least, everyone should try not to make the hackers’ jobs a walk in the park by protecting important data with “Password1.”

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