RISK: The worst passwords of 2015

Bigger isn’t always better.

People are now using longer passwords for their online accounts but they’re often so simple hackers can easily get around them.

“We have seen an effort by many people to be more secure by adding characters to passwords, but if these longer passwords are based on simple patterns they will put you in just as much risk of having your identity stolen by hackers,” says Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData, which analyzed more than two million leaked passwords during the year.

Some of the consistently common passwords are “123456,” “password,” “qwerty” and “football.” One of the more nonsensical codes — “1qaz2wsx” — is just the first two columns of main keys on a standard keyboard. And even new entrants — “solo,” “princess” and “starwars” — are part of well-known culture.

This story was originally published by Canadian Insurance Top Broker.