It’s getting difficult these days to be a technology user. You need passwords for everything, and you can’t use the same one for everything. Also, IT departments are increasingly enforcing policy around how often you must change passwords, and well as their composition. One can feel the user’s pain, but still, there’s no excusing these selections from SplashData’s “Worst Passwords of 2012” list. Frankly, if one of these was your passwords, you’re the reason IT policies exist.

1. The worst passwords of 2012
It’s getting difficult these days to be a
technology user. You need passwords for
everything, and you can’t use the same
one for everything. Also, IT departments
are increasingly enforcing policy around
how often you must change passwords,
and well as their composition.
One can feel the user’s pain, but still,
there’s no excusing these selections from
SplashData’s “Worst Passwords of 2012”
list. Frankly, if one of these was your
passwords, you’re the reason IT policies
exist.
Image courtesy of digitalartat FreeDigitalPhotos.net
By Jeff Jedras

2. #17: welcome (new)
The top newcomer to this year’s worst
passwords list is, appropriately enough,
welcome.
So first of, welcome to the list, welcome. And
second, you’re a horrible password.
You may as well just be saying “welcome to
my computer and its confidential data, evil
doers.”
To look at it more positively, while we may be
a less welcoming society in general these
days, apparently that trend doesn’t apply to Image courtesy of John Kasawa FreeDigitalPhotos.net
our computers.

3. #14: sunshine (up 1)
It’s comforting on one level to know
that there are happy, cheerful people
out there that put bright and positive
words such as sunshine as their
passwords.
But while sunshine may be the best
disinfectant (other than bleach), it’s not
the best password for your confidential
accounts.
For those, a little less sunshine and a
little more security is probably in order.
Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono FreeDigitalPhotos.net

4. #12: trustno1 (down 3)
First of all, kudos for the X-Files
reference (if it’s a reference to Dave
Navarro’s solo album, kudos withdrawn).
And trusting no one is the right attitude
to have when it comes to picking your
password and IT security.
Perhaps you’re still trusting too many
people though, as trustno1 finishing
fairly high up the worst passwords list.
Heed your own advice, and pick a
stronger password.

5. #11: iloveyou (up 2)
While it is nice to see that the love is
growing, with iloveyou moving two spots up
the worst passwords list this year, the
people that really love it are the password
crackers and hackers.
When it comes to IT security, there’s no
place for love. Not unless you throw in
random capitalization and a random symbol
or two.
That would be a password an IT manager
could love.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles FreeDigitalPhotos.net

6. #7: letmein (up 1)
This is the default password for many IT
shops.
When policy isn’t enforced though, many
users never change it from the default,
which is why it’s so high up on the worst
passwords list and is up one spot over last
year.
At least it’s truth in advertising though: with
letmein as your password, you are proffering
an open invitation for your account to be
hacked.
Image courtesy of graur codrin FreeDigitalPhotos.net

7. #1: password (unchanged)
Honestly, if you put password as your
password you should just do yourself a favour
and wire your life savings to Nigeria now.
Perhaps you thought you were being clever.
Maybe your theory was that password is an
easy password to remember, and no one
would think people would be foolish enough
to make password their password, so you’ll
be safe.
Well, you’re crazy. And you have the worst
password of 2012.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles FreeDigitalPhotos.net
And probably the worst of every other year
too.