Surely we all know, by now, what The 25 Worst Passwords of 2013 (or any other time) – and their variants – are. I left a comment on Mashable, expressing dismay that those who recently tried to discern my blog’s password also apparently thought I was stupid enough to use “adminnoob” or “12345” or “f***you.” Admittedly, that last one made me smile – either they know that’s exactly what runs through a person’s head when setting passwords to keep spammers and hackers out, or they’re giving up in frustration and firing one last snarky volley over the fence. Either way, yeah.
I would really like to thank whoever dropped by my blog and delightfully attempted “iamtryingtohackyourpassword” followed by “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” and “idontknowwhatthepasswordis.thissucks.” and, finally, “foundyouonmashablecomments”. I hope you come back and introduce yourself properly – that was the best laugh I had all week.
There’s a larger point to this, of course, and that’s for you nice folks: If you fail at your login, on any site where sensitive information might be compromised – or where, perhaps, a password to another site might be reset – you’ll want to immediately change that password.
I mean, ask yourself how I know which passwords the hackers tried.
Now, while I’ve got those wheels turning, might I also suggest that you beef up your Internet security – particularly on any account that could be used to access or reset passwords for banking, school records, shopping, and so on? Read How to set up two-factor authentication for Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and more. Nothing is truly foolproof; as my dad always said, “Locks only keep honest people honest.”
To the dishonest folks out there, I can only ask: “Why bother? Do you really think you’re going to get anything all that valuable if you do break in, here?” The answer to that…will have to wait till I stop laughing.
HollyJahangiri
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OK, that was funny, but still creepy!!!
Aleta recently posted…Got Eggs
Well, I enjoyed it – given the context, I thought it was funny, not creepy. But I do wish whoever left me the funny little notes would maybe put their email addy into their next attempt, so I could thank them in person. 😉 Or just leave a comment here – that’d work. Creepy is the one who guessed my admin username (since changed to something almost as good as a secure password). THAT was creepy.
HollyJahangiri recently posted…Torshi-e Makhlut
Is this the kind of thing WordPress.com saves you from? I haven’t had any trouble – is it because I am too small to be noticed, or playing in a safe place?
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt recently posted…The missing ingredient for Book 2: JOY!
Nope. It’s the kind of thing that goes on, all the time, no matter how little and obscure you think you are. You just don’t SEE it (without a plug-in that shows you) unless they succeed. It’s the kind of thing “strong” passwords – and different passwords on every site – can help save you from. I’m guessing you’re smart enough not to use something obvious like “password” or “123456”? I find it amusing to see what they think I MIGHT be using – well, sometimes it’s vaguely insulting, but it gives you a clue as to how stupid some people are. (Either that they think I’m that stupid, or that those easy or ridiculous passwords are so common they result in success, sometimes.)
Frustrate me enough with your site’s login (medical portals are the WORST), and the password I will end up with is one I could not show you. And will get great pleasure out of typing every time you force me to.
Quiet revenge for nerds.
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt recently posted…Being taken seriously as a writer is daunting
Oh, we have much in common!