Password-hacking is at an all-time high. There are many, free tools out there to help someone hack your password. It's easier than you might expect. Life hacker did a great post on this that we encourage you to read. Here are the top 10 typical passwords that people might try to guess:
- Your partner, child, or pet's name, possibly followed by a 0 or 1 (because they're always making you use a number, aren't they?)
- The last 4 digits of your social security number.
- 123 or 1234 or 123456.
- "password"
- Your city, or college, football team name.
- Date of birth – yours, your partner's or your child's.
- "god"
- "letmein"
- "money"
- "love"
That's just the first step of many. Hackers then move on to "Brute Force" attacks, and then on to more comprehensive methods of hacking. It's easy to take for granted passwords that we think are secure and used over a variety of other sites. The point of this article is simply to state the importance of having a complex password.
We recommend that your password be so complex that you have to copy and paste it into the PW field and tell your browser to just remember it. Example of a good password:
x77dqN!B42h6
For website top-level administrators, consider the fact that your "SuperUser" can do anything... ANYTHING in your website. All one needs is the key to come in and blow everything out. The least you can do is guard it with a complex password. Sure, it's inconvenient, but the first time your account is hacked, and you experience the wrath an evil-doer can do to your site, you will consider the tedious task of having a complex password quite menial compared to the experience of rebuilding your website, or worse... your reputation.
Please, use strong passwords... especially site administrators.
LastPass to simplify your life
We recommend LastPass for password management. It's a tool that specifically helps you manage your logins for all your different websites. It will suggest, remember and even help you plug in your passwords to each website with the click of a button. They do offer a free plan that is sufficient for most anyone.