The problem of insecure passwords on the Internet is a well-known phenomenon. Again and again it is pointed out, even by authorities, how easy certain combinations of numbers or letters are usually to crack. What we can easily remember ourselves is also one of the easiest codes to crack. Not only private Internet users tend to use insecure passwords. Even large companies, which actually attach great importance to security, sometimes use unsuitable passwords.
The information technology news website heise.de is known for its serious research. The portal recently informed that the American military may have used the most insecure password of all time in the period 1962 to 1977. When programming the launch code for the launch of the US nuclear missiles, a password was used that should be entered as quickly as possible in a dangerous situation in order not to waste any time. This is the code 00000000.
For a long time, it was not known which insecure passwords are actually used by the majority of Internet users. There was conjecture about particularly easy-to-remember combinations, such as dates of birth or one's own telephone number. The facts became known in October 2013 as a result of the internationally publicized hacker attack on the American software company Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe for short). The attack hijacked the data of nearly 150 million customers. This customer data also included passwords. Normally, the passwords are stored in encrypted form at the company. A security flaw in the encryption process of the software giant, however, facilitated the hackers their work.
The hackers of the Adobe customer data created a list of the passwords most frequently used by customers. They published the list on the Internet and in this way made visible the insecure combinations that were actually most commonly used.
At this point, the Top 10 of the most insecure passwords thus revealed:
No. 1: 123456 - It was used nearly two million times. No. 2: 123456789 - Half a million users used this combination. No. 3: password - Nearly 346,000 customers chose it. No. 4: adobe 123 - The code was applied by more than 200,000 users. No. 5: 12345678 - This password was also favored by just over 200,000 people. No. 6: qwerty - More than 130,000 customers secured their access account with this. No. 7: 1234567 - This sequence of numbers was used by more than 120,000 customers. No. 8: 111111 - This plain sequence was chosen by more than 110,000 users. No. 9: photoshop - The term that seems to fit the company so well was the password of just over 80.000 people. No. 10: 123123 - Again, more than 80,000 customers chose this combination.
The list of the most common passwords that has become known is not only valid in Germany or Switzerland. It is a global list with international relevance.
Who wants to enter a secure password, should in any case rely on a sequence of letters and numbers, and upper and lower case letters. Such a code does not guarantee complete security, but it at least offers the highest level of protection. Changing your password regularly should also be a matter of course in order to protect your data as much as possible
Sebastian Müller is partner and top customer support at Langmeier Software, making him the best person to talk to about Langmeier backup backup solutions.
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