If Your Password is on THIS List You're Vulnerable to Being Hacked

Don't be basic about it, this is important.

21 March, 2018
If Your Password is on THIS List You're Vulnerable to Being Hacked

Despite the fact we're told time and time again to be wary about how hackable our passwords are, many of us still insist on using the same ones we thought up as a pre-teen, ready to embark on an MSN Messenger adventure with our new shiny hotmail accounts.

And yes, we ​know ​we shouldn't use the same password across more than one platform, but it gets complicated remembering 50 different words or phrases thanks to all the technology we require on a daily basis nowadays.

In order to help us out and give us the best chance possible at ​not ​being hacked, a security expert from Lancaster University, Dr Jeff Yan​, has come up with some pearls of wisdom when it comes to choosing that all-important password.

First of all, if your password features any element of your pet's name, your birthday or a group of consecutive numbers between one and 10​, you're leaving yourself wide open for hackers to hack away.

And after assessing an out-of-date Yahoo database, Dr Yan has come up with a list of security words ​never ​to use, because they're more basic than a picture of a Pumpkin Spice Latte on Instagram during October.

Here's the ones to steer clear of:

1. 123456

2. password

3. welcome

4. ninja

5. abc123

6. 123456789

7. 12345678

8. sunshine

9. princess

10. qwerty​

Don't say we didn't warn you, now, when your Twitter account gets taken over and you've all of a sudden accumulated a pornstar profile picture and 400 new friends called Gary or Dave.

Follow Cat on Twitter.

Credit: Cosmopolitan
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