Tech a byte

The most common account password especially for email is "123456". How did I know? Two years ago, it ranks as top # 1 on whatsmypass.com's list of "Top 500 Worst Passwords of all Time" but people never learned as they still favor on using simple and easily-guessed passwords. And how do free email service providers respond on this? Let's take yahoo and gmail as examples.

I register a new yahoo account using "123456" as the password. It then displays as a "weak" password but still able to register the account (?). Definitely, Yahoo fails on this part.



How about the password "password"?



Good thing it is not accepted.

Another test account using "123456" as the password displays the strength as a "weak" one. Gmail does not accept weak or too short passwords as registration will fail. Same applies to the password "password".





Using simple passwords is not a new phenomenon. Thus experts’ advice not to use most common or easily-guessed passwords nor re-use it on other online accounts as it is vulnerable to hacking. Choose complex passwords. You may also check StaySafeOnline.org's article on Choosing Safe Passwords.