10 Passwords that hackers will easily guess

A big responsibility in the business world is protecting company data. You’re constantly acquiring new information about your customers, your financial details, and all the vendors and contractors you work with.  All it takes is one misstep, and you’ve just exposed your business to a possible security breach. Protecting your company from data theft is one of your most important responsibilities, from lost trust among your clients to costly lawsuits for the damage done.

A lot of it comes down to one simple choice you make:  passwords.

Maintaining secure passwords is a challenge. It is amazing how many security breaches are the result of an easily guessed password.  Hackers and scammers know the common passwords and are the ones they try first.  If you want to reduce the risk of your password being guessed, then review the following list of 10 passwords you should never use:

abc123

any variation of the above (Including any capitalization) has long been a popular password and is well known.

qwerty

This simple password is 6 keys in a row and is also well known by hackers.

1qaz2wsx

A combination of the two left-hand rows of keys on the keyboard looks like a strong password; however, scammers are on to this trick, and it is easily guessed.

Password

this is the number one and most common bad choice. Also prevalent are variations such as P@ssword and P@55w0rd!. These might be easy to remember, but they’re also among the first options hackers will try.

letmein

easy-to-guess passwords often take root because they’re simple to remember.

12345678

Or, 98765. Or, 4567. You get the picture — no consecutive numbers (and the same goes for sequential letter combinations). You can only count on passwords such as these to expose your business to digital theft.

Any family member’s name

With social media, and the public availability of personal information on the internet,  finding the names of family members is child’s play for a good hacker.

Your date of birth

Thanks to the Internet, finding a person’s DOB doesn’t take much effort. Birthdays, birthdates, years of birth.

Your business name 1

If your shop is called John’s Auto, don’t set your password as JohnsAuto1. That would be an early choice for hackers looking to break into your valuable data.

Your business address

Scammers often try any combination of your business address, such as main5231.

And so, what should you do when it comes to picking a password?

A key approach starts with thinking of a passphrase. Next, substitute letters, characters, and abbreviations for parts of it. For example, my first car was a Honda in 1990 would be easy enough to remember, if that was the case in your life. Now, change it to my1stc@r=honda90.

Steer clear of the not-so-magnificent 10 listed above, and protect your data with hard-to-guess constructions. With a strong password strategy, you’re well on your way to foiling online attacks.

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