Dumbest passwords of 2019

Come on, admit it. Unless you’re the exceptional tech-sophisticate, you probably use a not-so-unique password online. Or at the very least, you use the same password for everything.

How the heck else are we supposed to remember them?

Frustrating as the alternatives may be, it’s a dumb habit and a hacker’s playground. Then again, there’s dumb, and you’ve-got-to-kidding dumb. “Password” — forward or backward — tops the list. Your kids’ birthdays and my cat’s name aren’t much better.

Password manager NordPass shared some of the most popular passwords of 2019 — which you should never use:

- 123456789, Aa123456, abc123, 123 …

- test, test1 and so on

- zinch (a college connection, I think)

- g_czechout

- asdf, qwerty (glance at your keyboard)

- iloveyou

- 111111 (really?!)

- dubsmash (it’s a video thing)

“2019 has seen the most data breaches in history, and those cyber incidents have affected billions of internet users,” said NordPass security expert Chad Hammond in a statement. “People struggle creating passwords, and this is one of the main reasons why users stick to the primitive ones. It is as important as ever that internet users step up their cybersecurity game.”

We know what not to do. What should we do?

NordPass offers five tips for good password hygiene:

1. Review your accounts and delete those you no longer use. If even a small, obscure website is breached, your other accounts may be affected. You can use haveibeenpawned.com to check if your email was ever in a breach.

2. Update all passwords and use unique, complicated ones. Employ a password generator to make them impossible to guess.

3. Use 2FA (two-factor authentication, e.g. getting a confirmation code for login) if you can.

4. Set up a password manager to generate and store passwords. That way you only need to remember one master password and forget about the rest.

5. Make sure to check every account regularly for suspicious activity. If you notice something unusual, change your password immediately.

For more about password management see NordPass.com or PC Mag’s review at Bit.ly/2PIUkM4.

•••

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network whose new year’s resolution is better online hygiene. That sounds so weird. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.