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Internet’s Worst Password List Revealed

The number sequence “123456” is the internet’s worst password, according to a software company.The six-digit pass phrase was hacked more times than any other in 2013, leapfrogging the previous year’s winner, “password”.Internet's Worst Password List Revealed

Other common passwords were “abc123”, “admin”, “iloveyou”, “1111111” and “photoshop”.

New to the list this year are easy-to-guess passwords like “1234” and “000000”.

Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData, the company which compiled the list, said: “Seeing passwords like ‘adobe123’ and ‘photoshop’ on this list offers a good reminder not to base your password on the name of the website or application you are accessing.

“Another interesting aspect of this year’s list is that more short numerical passwords showed up even though websites are starting to enforce stronger password policies.”

SplashData, which makes password management applications, compiles its list every year, saying it hopes to encourage users to come up with more original and stronger passwords.

The list is made from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online during the previous year.

The company also offered advice on how to make passwords harder to hack.

It recommends long words – at least eight characters long – with mixed types of characters, though it suggests avoiding common substitutions such as “dr4mat1c”.

Passwords with spaces or characters separating them are good because they are long but easy to remember, it said.

The company also recommends avoiding using the same password on multiple sites.

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