Just days ago, it was revealed that thousands of Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo account IDs and passwords were leaked. A researcher has studied 10,000 of these accounts and passwords and concluded that the most commonly used password was 123456 and that a staggering 20% of users only used a password that was six characters long. Only 6% of users were savvy enough to use mixed alpha-numeric passwords.
Wired - Forty-two percent of the passwords used lowercase letters from “a to z”; only 6 percent mixed alpha-numeric and other characters.
Many of the top 20 passwords used were Spanish names, such as Alejandra and Alberto, suggesting that the victims were in Spanish-speaking communities. Nearly 2,000 of the passwords were only six characters long. The longest password was 30 characters — lafaroleratropezoooooooooooooo.
Clearly, people need more education about password selection. To read the original story, click here.
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