computer passwords

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Most Common Passwords Take a Second to Crack

No. 1 on the list from NordPass is, of course, 123456

(Newser) - No matter how many times the lists of "most common passwords" come out, paired with the inevitable warning about how terrible they are, the usual suspects keep showing up at the top. This latest list is from NordPass , a password management tool, and the most common passwords globally for...

Password Manager Has News Its Clients Won't Want to Hear

LastPass says it has suffered 2nd security breach since August

(Newser) - There's no safer place to keep all of your passwords than with a password manager, right? "Maybe think again on that one" is Lucas Ropek's advice on Gizmodo , at least when it comes to using LastPass . That's because for the second time in three months or...

Here Are the 10 Worst Passwords of 2020
Want to Make
a Hacker's Day?
Use One of These
Passwords
in case you missed it
Nov 22, 2020 6:43 AM CST

Want to Make a Hacker's Day? Use One of These Passwords

NordPass has released its worst candidates for 2020

(Newser) - We get how brain-melting it can be to remember all of your various passwords—really, we honestly, truly get it. But you've got to try harder than the people whose passwords popped up on NordPass' 2020 ranking of the 200 most common passwords, which, as Suzanne Humphries succinctly puts...

These 10 Passwords Are a Hacker's Dream

UK cybersecurity group says '123456,' others are easily breached

(Newser) - Think you've got a password that no one would ever guess, or simply hoping no one would ever try to capitalize on your password laziness? Based on a new survey out of the UK, you may want to reexamine that assessment. Per CNN Business , the National Cyber Security Centre...

Yep, It's Another Privacy Problem for Facebook

Millions of passwords were stored in plain text, a big no-no

(Newser) - Facebook left millions of user passwords readable by its employees for years, the company said Thursday, an acknowledgement it offered after a security researcher posted about the issue online. "Security rule 101 dictates that under no circumstances passwords should be stored in plain text, and at all times must...

Shocker for Cryptocurrency Clients: 'All of Your Money Is Gone'

After Quadriga CEO reportedly died, the mystery deepens

(Newser) - A CEO's untimely death, hard-to-crack passwords, and up to $190 million in missing cryptocurrency. These all underlie a mystery that Fortune calls the "implosion of Quadriga" after the December death of the QuadrigaCX coin exchange's chief, Gerald Cotten, at the age of 30, and now the FBI...

Fired IT Guy Demands $200K to Unlock Data

Online college couldn't access account

(Newser) - An IT worker fired for refusing to relocate demanded $200,000 to unlock a Google account with the emails and coursework of 2,000 students, an online college claims. The American College of Education alleges in a lawsuit that Triano Williams changed the password on the account and demanded the...

The Ultimate Password: Your Thoughts?

Researchers say brainwaves have potential as an ultra-secure method

(Newser) - If typing in 12345 represents the most unsafe extreme of the password spectrum, researchers at Binghamton University suggest this represents the safest: your own brainwaves. As they explain in a post at Eureka Alert , the scientists read dozens of acronyms to volunteers and measured their brains' reaction to them. The...

Snowden's Password Idea: Strange, but Not Terribly Secure

Cryptography expert says 'MargaretThatcheris110%SEXY' just wouldn't cut it

(Newser) - Edward Snowden recommended last week that people use longer "passphrases" instead of passwords for extra security. One of his suggestions: something unusual and counterintuitive like "MargaretThatcheris110%SEXY." But cryptography expert Joseph Bonneau tells Andy Greenberg, writing for Wired , why Snowden's approach leaves much to be desired. To...

'Worst Passwords' List Shows How Lazy We Are

'123456,' 'qwerty,' sports teams, birthdays, and swear words all make the top 100

(Newser) - If your computer blares "WEAK!" whenever you try to come up with a new password, your "secret" code may be an honoree on this year's "Worst Passwords" list. Using 3.3 million leaked passwords from mostly North American and Western European users, SplashData has released...

US Government Also Uses 'Password' for Password

Report slams lazy cybersecurity measures in place at federal agencies

(Newser) - Yes, ordinary and lazy humans often use "password" as a computer password , but a new report complains that the same thing applies to sensitive government agencies, reports Mashable . The Senate cybersecurity report finds that agencies ranging from Homeland Security to the IRS use weak security measures that leave their...

Guessing Worst Online Password as Easy as 123

'Password' no longer most common password

(Newser) - If your password is "123456" it's time for a change—it has been named as the worst password of 2013, overtaking "password" as the most common password for the first time, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . Others in the list of least secure passwords released by security...

Google: Let's Get Rid of Passwords
Google: Let's Get Rid
of Passwords
Jan 20, 2013 3:05 PM CST

Google: Let's Get Rid of Passwords

Googlers experiment with new forms of security

(Newser) - Want to log into Gmail by tapping a ring on your computer? So do Google executives who consider passwords a weak form of security, Wired reports. Google Vice President of Security Eric Grosse and engineer Mayank Upadhyay say that so far, the company is trying out USB sticks that log...

PIN Codes You Should Never, Ever Choose

Data Genetics firm figures out the most popular passwords

(Newser) - Sorry to ruin your afternoon, but that PIN number you picked—probably a birthday, month/day combo, or year in the 1900s—is among the easiest for thieves to guess. And if you chose "1234," "1111," or "0000," consider your bank account a slush fund...

Why Your Password Is Less Safe Than Ever

Advances in cracking technology and reuse of passwords leaves users vulnerable

(Newser) - Once upon a time, hackers tried to guess passwords using a list of words cobbled from a dictionary and fairly feeble computers. Back then, the one password you're using for all your sites was probably pretty safe. But that's not the case anymore, reports Ars Technica , citing huge...

55K Twitter Passwords Leaked
 55K Twitter Passwords Leaked 
May 10, 2012 2:20 AM CDT

55K Twitter Passwords Leaked

Puzzling hit, but most hacked tied to spammers or dupe accounts

(Newser) - The usernames and passwords of more than 55,000 Twitter tweeters were leaked online Monday in a data dump that has puzzled experts. Twitter says that at least 20,000 of the leaked accounts were duplicates, and many more were spam accounts that had already been suspended, InformationWeek reports. Password...

Password-Stealing Malware Targets Facebook

Phony email tells users passwords have been reset

(Newser) - An email that appears to be from Facebook telling users that their passwords have been reset is a dangerous scam. The email contains an attachment that will trigger password-stealing malware if clicked on, Reuters reports. The email has likely been sent to tens of millions of Facebook users and recipients...

How to Manage Your Passwords From the Grave

From Facebook to bank accounts, online afterlife a thorny legal area

(Newser) - These days grieving relatives have a new problem to contend with: managing the Facebook, Flickr, and eBay accounts of the dead. As people trust ever more of their lives to the Internet, from email and online banking to identities on Second Life, very few have considered what exactly will happen...

Email Scam Reveals How Crummy Passwords Are

'123456' was most common single password of 10,000 revealed

(Newser) - The hackers who stole the logins and passwords for thousands of email accounts in a phishing scam that came to light this week likely lured users with fake “security check” forms. But for many users, they wouldn’t have needed to expend that much energy: the most common single...

Judge: Cops Can't Force Defendant to Tell Password

An accused child pornographer has the right to keep his laptop password, and images, private

(Newser) - In what could turn out to be a landmark decision on computer privacy and Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination, a federal judge in Vermont has ruled that a man accused of transporting child pornography across the US border with Canada can’t be forced to turn over his laptop...

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