“Ninja”

“Ashley”

“Monkey”

“Jesus”

Not many individuals would be able to find the common link between those four words, but the bond is there. Can you figure it out? Here’s a hint: think “qwerty” and “123456”. Still no? These six terms all come from the list of “Top 25 Most Often Used Passwords of 2012” (Daily Mail). Despite the multitude of articles cautioning website users to “use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters”, the number one password still remains “password”. While this news bodes well for Hackers United, it does not look so bright for the rest of mankind.

In the modern world of social media, technology, and instant communication, the average individual possesses approximately twenty-five web accounts — far too many passwords to keep track of (Microsoft Research). Let’s be honest: it is a well established truth that humans are lazy. Usernames and passwords are reused constantly. Facebook, Yahoo, State Farm, Bank of America, although the site differs, the password remains constant. This means that the bank account of the student, whose Twitter was hacked, may very well be empty within a few short hours.

Not to worry, though: like for everything else, Google is swooshing in to save the day. Google’s talented engineers and programmers are currently working on a project that could render passwords obsolete and hacking virtually impossible. Eric Grosse, Vice President of Security, has announced the development of hardware that would act as a master key for websites. Instead of typing in passwords, users may use a smartphone or smartcard-embedded finger ring to communicate wirelessly to computers, gaining automatic access into any account linked to the user. Although these physical devices will have flaws of their own, Google’s harwards will, no doubt, save a lot of hassle and time.

However, for now, passwords remain the only protection against online hackers. If your password makes the “Most Often Used” list, the best advice would be: Change it. You take pride in being unique, so why would you want to copy the hundreds of thousands of other people who use the password “password”?