06 Feb Worst Passwords of 2019
Reprinted from Fixmestick
Coming up with a good password can leave a lot of us scratching our heads. It’s a lot of specific requirements, random characters, and it’s definitely a hassle we can all relate to. While opting for a simple password might seem like the easy way around it – you’re doing yourself more harm than good.
While quick and simple passwords are easier to remember, it also makes it quicker and easier for hackers to crack and gain access to your accounts.
Recently, Tech company SplashData released a list of 2019’s worst passwords. The reigning champion for 2019 is “123456”, which also held the top spot in 2018. Some new additions to the list include “dragon” at 23, “lovely” at 18, and “qwertyuiop” at 15. If your password isn’t on the list, congrats! But don’t consider yourself out of the woods just yet.
Here are the worst passwords of 2019:
- 123456 (rank unchanged from 2018)
- 123456789 (up 1)
- qwerty (Up 6)
- password (Down 2)
- 1234567 (Up 2)
- 12345678 (Down 2)
- 12345 (Down 2)
- iloveyou (Up 2)
- 111111 (Down 3)
- 123123 (Up 7)
- abc123 (Up 4)
- qwerty123 (Up 13)
- 1q2w3e4r (New)
- admin (Down 2)
- qwertyuiop (New)
- 654321 (Up 3)
- 555555 (New)
- lovely (New)
- 7777777 (New)
- welcome (Down 7)
- 888888 (New)
- princess (Down 11)
- dragon (New)
- password1 (Unchanged)
- 123qwe (New)
4 Tips for Better Passwords
If you think these passwords are easy, imagine how easy a hacker would think they are! If you want to make sure you’re doing the most to secure your passwords, experts have a few tips to ensure you’re doing all you can do:
1. Diversify the characters in your password – using different combinations of letter, numbers, uppercase, and lowercase characters is a great way to boost your password strength.
2. A long password goes a long way – most experts agree that keeping your password at a 12 character minimum is best.
3. Make sure you’re not using the same password for all your accounts – it’s like using one key for all your locks – once someone has one, they have access to everything. Get creative and brainstorm some different passwords.
4. Use Chrome Sync – Chrome Sync can save your bookmarks, history, passwords, and other settings securely to your Google Account and allow you to access them from Chrome on any device — including the StartMeStick!
What is Chrome Sync?
Google Chrome lets you sync your browsing activity across any device – bookmarks, history, passwords, and extensions – sync from your Google account, creating a seamless experience on any device.
You can choose what information you want Chrome to sync – be it everything, just passwords or somewhere in the middle.
This makes creating strong, unique passwords easy as they’re automatically synced across your devices.
Most of us has an average of 200 passwords to remember. This is a lot of opportunities to forget which password we used. Chrome Sync makes this easy.
I’m not tech savvy, will I be able to use Chrome Sync?
Our team uses Chrome Sync and we love it! We trust it for our friends and family and that’s why we are recommending it to you. Plus it works seamlessly with the StartMeStick.
Have a question? Leave it in the comments below!