pub domain password
Image: Salvatore Viono/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we never had to enter another password to login to our blogs, or our social media accounts, or anything? Ever?

No more keeping hundreds of userid/password combinations in a document somewhere because you just can’t keep up anymore. Unless you use the same password for everything (and 80% of you do). Or, like many employees of the IRS, your password to everything is….”password”.

Why Accounts Keep Getting Hacked

Weak passwords, such as “password”, “qwerty”, or “123456”, can be easily hacked. Last year, hackers reportedly broke into the national Emergency Broadcast System and caused television stations in Michigan, Montana and North Dakota to broadcast zombie attack warnings. Zombies! Ack! Here is what they broadcasted to three states in this country:

“Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are considered extremely dangerous.”

Replacing Password Technology

According to a recent ZDNet article, Google’s quest to kill the password comes with their acquisition of Slicklogin, an Iraeli security startup whose answer to password overload is something called soundwaves, where “users just have to place their phone next to their tablet or laptop and will be able to log in.”

This goes beyond 1Password and other “password managers” that  “remember” your login credentials so you don’t have to.

No word on whether this new technology, which has not yet been released, will work with iPhones or other non-Google ally devices, but this kind of authentication security can’t come fast enough for those of us who are drowning in the current verification process.

So what do we do in the meantime?

Online Security Tips (and 25 Worst Online Passwords)

An article in The Wall Street Journal offers 5 Simple Online Security Tips, such as “Don’t use real answers to security questions.”

Don’t use the #1 worst password of 2013: 123456 (which surpassed it’s previous winner: “password”, according to a Splashdata press release, which also recommends against using part of the program you’re using as the password, such as “Adobe123”)

And now, the 25 worst online passwords of 2013 (via Splashdata):

1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. 123456789
7. 111111
8. 1234567
9. iloveyou
10. adobe123
11. 123123
12. admin
13. 1234567890
14. letmein
15. photoshop
16. 1234
17. monkey
18. shadow
19. sunshine
20. 12345
21. password1
22. princess
23. azerty
24. trustno1
25. 000000

Passwords Are So Yesterday, or They Should Be
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13 thoughts on “Passwords Are So Yesterday, or They Should Be

  • February 22, 2014 at 7:18 pm
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    The yearly 25 worst passwords list is more depressing than all the other news combined with this story.

    I read a post today about SALTing passwords…my eyes started to roll back in my head and my geek light went off. I have my salt shaker but ummm no… lol

    I also do not have a smart phone so I am not sure this new idea to let phones talk to computers is really going to work for me and others like me.

    There is perhaps no solution. Change is probably all we have that can keep us one step in front of hackers. I am great at making passwords. Just not at remembering them. There are too many sites. I love the Log in w/ T or F places. I wish LinkedIn would not require that I remember my password there all the time to log in via it on other websites. What is the point of that??? UGH lol

    • February 23, 2014 at 10:11 am
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      I wonder if you and I saw the same SALTing article, Tosca. I came across one as well while working on this one. I thought about including it here, but then realized it might be just a bit too much on the nerd scale and reeled my former computer programmer back in.

  • February 23, 2014 at 9:34 am
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    I don’t know, I’m thinking “letmein” has a nice ring to it …

    • February 23, 2014 at 10:12 am
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      And apparently, Tami, so do millions of others. 🙂

  • February 23, 2014 at 12:05 pm
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    We probably were reading the same content Margaret or two of similar. None of this really matters as providers and sites get hacked stealing user names and passwords and more. All the personal item security in the world cannot override that. Ask me how I lost the Email to my user name….UGH sigh lol

    • February 24, 2014 at 12:02 am
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      Good point, Tosca. Hackers don’t always need your password to steal your stuff off others’ sites.

  • February 23, 2014 at 8:30 pm
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    Oh boy is this a sorry subject. Has anybody been bogged down by Google’s new 2-stage passwords and their application specific password requirements. I’d be dead with Keychain Access. Sheesh!

    Why can’t we use biometrics and be done with it? I love the new fingerprint ID of the iPhone 5S. Why can’t that technology be used?

    • February 23, 2014 at 8:31 pm
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      I meant “without” Keychain Access. Another good reason to dump passwords—typos.

    • February 23, 2014 at 11:59 pm
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      I think the fingerprint ID thing is a great idea too, Chris. Perhaps both will ultimately replace the whole password world.

  • February 24, 2014 at 12:01 pm
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    I agree that passwords are going by the wayside, but for now I love LastPass for password management!

    • February 24, 2014 at 3:53 pm
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      I haven’t heard of LastPass before, I’ll have to check that out. Thanks, Zack!

    • February 24, 2014 at 4:27 pm
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      Agreed – LastPass Premium is the best $12 I spend every year.

      • February 24, 2014 at 7:01 pm
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        So that’s TWO votes for LastPass, then. 🙂

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