While we’re all aware that strong, complicated passwords are our best protection from online hackers, they’re also difficult to remember once they’re created.
And to deal with what’s known, apparently, as “password fatigue,” we tend to reuse the same, simple, easy-to-remember combination of a word and a number across multiple platforms and hope for the best.
“We all want what’s simple and easy, but that’s not good with passwords,” Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData, an online security company specializing in password protection, told NBC News. “Using a simple password over and over again is dangerous because it creates a cascading risk for all of your online accounts.”
SplashData’s evaluation of the worst passwords of 2018 turned up a few perennial non-surprises, like 123456, Password (no joke), and 123456789.
A strong password, according to NBC News, is at least 12 characters long; a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, symbols and numbers; and super random with no noticeable ties to your life, NBC advises. Personal information like your “name, birthday, pet’s name, Social Security number or anything else that can be found on social media,” shouldn’t be included.
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