'123456' dethrones 'password' as worst password

WASHINGTON: The number sequence '123456' has overtaken 'password' as the most common worst password among Internet users, an online security firm says.

Releasing its annual Worst Passwords list, SplashData said it was the first time 'password' had lost its number-one position, changing places with its numerical rival.

In third place was '12345678,' unchanged from 2012, while 'qwerty' and 'abc123' came in fourth and fifth -- and 'iloveyou' climbed two spots to number nine.

Swinging the results, SplashData said, was a major security breach involving Adobe software that laid bare the widespread use of weak passwords among users of such Adobe products as Photoshop.

'Seeing passwords like 'adobe123' and 'photoshop' on this list (for the first time) offers a good reminder not to base your password on the name of the website or application you are accessing,' said SplashData chief executive Morgan Slain, whose company markets password management apps.

Like other password experts, SplashData encouraged Internet users to opt for 'passphrases' -- a bunch of random words, numbers and characters, like 'smiles_like_skip?' -- that are easy to remember, but harder for online scam artists to crack.