No sixth sense:'123456' worst password of 2013

The insecurity of online accounts provides plenty of reason for insecurity about the state of online security, according to a new list of the most common passwords. Spend a morning or two with "Sesame Street" and you should have all the skills you need to crack the passwords of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of online accounts worldwide. This according to a new list of the worst passwords of 2013 from security-focused developer SplashData that lists "123456" as the most common and new worst password on the Internet, unseating "password," which topped the previous year's list. The list was compiled from data dumps of stolen passwords posted online, and the firm says it was especially influenced by the millions of Adobe accounts that were compromised in the fall. Stricture Consulting Group attempted to decrypt the leaked Adobe passwords and released an estimate that almost 2 million of the more than 130 million users affected by the breach appeared to be using "123456" as a password. Passwords like 'adobe123' and 'photoshop' also make SplashData's top 25 list thanks to the breadth of the Adobe hack. The list also reveals that people using keys like 'letmein' and 'trustno1' aren't nearly as clever and unique as they might think. To better protect your data without memorizing myriad strings of nonsense numbers, letters and symbols, SplashData recommends passwords that contain random words separated by spaces or characters like this bit of Yoda-speak: "trolls_jobs_need" or "Crave_love_I_do." Of course, if you're especially concerned about hackers or the NSA snooping around your business, maybe the solution is to throw out all devices or re-learn Morse code.