Obviously user names and passwords are themselves revealing. But Bogdan Calin, chief technology officer of Web application for security provider Acunetix, was able to capture the hacker's list before it was removed. In a blog on Acunetix's Web site, Calin broke down the passwords into a set of statistics that seem to show many Web users still haven't learned the value of using a complex password.
Of the approximately 10,000 passwords posted, Calin found that "123456" was the most common, occurring in 64 instances. Various iterations of that easy-to-hack password litter the top 10, while "111111" took the No. 4 spot.
Calin also discovered that 42 percent of the passwords listed were basic alpha passwords. In other words, almost half of the passwords hacked were a single word or combinations of words, e.g. hello or iloveyou.
On the heels of this news, earlier this week the BBC reported it had found a list circulating the Web containing the user names and passwords for some 30,000 Gmail, Yahoo and AOL e-mail accounts.
Security experts routinely beg Web users to use alphanumeric passwords as well as different passwords for each Web site they visit. Despite the warnings, password fatigue may be setting in. Creating and remembering multiple passwords is taxing and people may be resorting to simple passwords they can use across the Web, preferring ease-of-use at the expense of security.
