According to various studies and reports, "123456" has been consistently ranked as the most commonly used password for several years. In fact, it has been dubbed as the "worst password" by many security experts and organizations.

Using "123456" as a password is extremely risky and can leave your accounts vulnerable to hacking attempts. Here are some reasons why:

• Easy to Guess: "123456" is an extremely simple password that is easy to guess. It is one of the first passwords that hackers try when attempting to gain access to an account.

• Commonly Used: Since "123456" is such a common...

When it comes to account security, server side protections are usually just half of the equation. It doesn’t matter if the server where your account is hosted on has no bugs or security flaws, if you’re not using a safe password; chances are you will have your account compromised by using a strong password cracker.

There are several methods of password cracking, but at the base level, every single method’s function is to generate large numbers of sample passwords to test against the username. The most common methods of password cracking are the dictionary-based attacks, wherein the...

We live in a day and age were password security has seen countless improvements and the competition between individuals who want to steal password and the people who seek to improve password security is so extreme that network improvements and software patches are being made almost daily. However, sometimes server side security is not a factor, particularly if an intruder is using a brute force attempt at guessing the user’s password, which is done either by using a dictionary of passwords or by pumping as many variations or random strings in hopes of finding a match. 

The only safe p...

Aside from using a password generator to create strong passwords, it is also strongly advised that people avoid using the same password for all of their accounts, to prevent all of them from being intruded into in case one is compromised. Unfortunately, it becomes an issue of security VS usability if a person has to juggle anywhere between 5 to 20(!) different passwords for all of his accounts. Add the fact that a safe password would require him to use lengthy words that are not easy to memorize means that the chances of him forgetting several are very large.

In the past, people have ...

Tips For Creating a Strong Password

• Go for length. Try to make sure that your password is not shorter than 12 characters. If an intruder is trying to use brute force method in cracking your password, which means his software has to try out every possible combination of keys, every single key in your password greatly increases the number of keys that he has to go through.
• Avoid words that can be found in the dictionary. There are password-cracking softwares that use a dictionary for testing matches, and if you use a word that is in there, chances are your account if going to be intr...

If we’re only talking about passwords in general, regardless of the medium in which they are used, we can safely assume that safe passwords have been around even before recorded history, right around the time when men have started doing organized lookouts. However, in the context of computers, the first system that had a login command and requested a password was introduced in 1961 in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This early type of time-sharing computer turns off the printing mechanism after typing PASSWORD so that an individual may type his password discreetly.  

It is surpr...