Review on Internet Security

Favourite Passwords Used Online

Nowadays, we need proper safeguards to protect our personal data since there are many viruses and hackers that may have unauthorized access to our data. A password is a secret word or characters to prove identity for authentication. Using strong passwords will lower the risk of security breach. A strong password is determined by its length and complexity. Although strong passwords is important for us to access personal information in our computer or online account, most of us would like to do the easy way to make the passwords simple such as "1234" or their first name.

According to the research on an analysis of 28000 passwords from popular websites, there are 16% who like to use their own name, spouse or childrens' name as a password, 14% prefer "1234" or "12345678" as a password because it is easier to remember, 4% like to use the word "password" or "password1". 5% like to use names of a singer, television shows or cartoon as a password, 3% of passwords expressed attitudes like "whatever", "yes", "no", and other favourite passwords include "iloveyou", "ihateyou".

According to the aggregate sample of passwords which are primarily from the UK, the most common favourite password is "123" which get 3.784% votes. Next is the word "password" which get 3.780%. "password" is often used as a default password for many programs, so it is extremely common and not secure at all. In my opinion, another favourite passwords used is our IC number which is easier to remember. However, it can also be known by others easily.

To keep our data well protected, it is necessary for us to have a strong password. Passwords should be longer than 8 characters, with combine letters, numbers and symbols. We should avoid repeated characters, login names and use more than 1 password everywhere.