A research by Keeper Security shows that the (wrong) habits of users do not change and the most used passwords are the most insecure ones. Here are the tips for creating secure passwords
Years and years of campaigns in favor of computer security seem to have served little purpose, if you listen to the report of Keeper Security, a software house specializing in creating applications and programs for the protection of digital identity and online accounts.
Analyzing the data of more than 10 million passwords, the result of several computer thefts carried out by hackers in the last year, the company has created a ranking of the most used passwords in 2016. And with some surprise - and disappointment of cybersecurity experts - it turns out that the situation, year after year, does not change at all: the most used password 817% of the total) of 2016 is still "123456". In short, not exactly the ultimate in security, also because scrolling through the positions of the ranking it turns out that the situation is far from idyllic. Internet users have little imagination when it comes to passwords, so much so that in most cases it wouldn't even take great computer skills to be able to steal an email account.
The most used passwords on the Internet
In the first ten positions, in fact, there are numerical or literal combinations rather basic. They range from the string "123456789" which occupies the second position to "987654321" which is in the tenth, passing through many numbers (even "111111") and a couple of alphabetical combinations (the evergreen "qwerty" and "password"). In short, although creating a secure password may seem complex, using an insecure password makes life easy for hackers and various digital miscreants. The only exception is represented by the alphanumeric combination "18atcskd2w", but even here we are not in the presence of good news: according to computer security experts it would be a password automatically generated by bots for fake accounts used on forums and other social platforms.
How to create secure passwords and protect your data online
To better protect your digital identity and avoid theft of sensitive data, therefore, it is necessary to create passwords that are easy to remember and difficult to guess, even using computer means. The simplest advice is to create alphanumeric combinations of at least 10 characters with numbers, letters and special symbols inside. To avoid being victim of dictionary attacks, moreover, it is not recommended to use passwords composed by full words: if you really want to follow this way, it is advisable to rely on diceware and passphrases. In case of short memory, finally, rely on a password manager: it will remember the credentials to access your accounts instead of you.