My memory isn't as good as it used to be, but I think it's because I have a much wider variety of things I'm supposed to remember than I did when I was a kid. At the age of 11, I could have told you the batting average of every baseball player in the major leagues. I can't do that anymore. I can't even remember the averages of the guys who won the batting title last season. When I was in junior high, I could have told you the name of every primetime television show along with their timeslots and networks. I can't do that anymore either, but I blame that more on the fact that I now have more than 300 channels. When I was in junior high, I only had four.
Here's what I can remember. I can remember passwords. This morning I sat down and counted the number of accounts I maintain on the Internet that require a password. My number? 70. That includes credit card sites, banking and investment accounts, utility billing sites, shopping sites, e-mail accounts, social media and the websites where I check my company employment and insurance information. And I remember all of my login names and passwords. It's not that easy to do. I had to develop a system using letters and numbers that would seem random to probably everyone but me and perhaps one of those "beautiful mind" guys at Princeton or MIT.
Sorry, but I'm not going to go into detail about the system, except to say that I don't duplicate a single password among the 70. I was told years ago that using the same password for every account was a terrible idea, and I still operate under that piece of advice. My passwords also don't have anything to do with my name or birthdate or phone number. So I'm probably different than most people.
All that having been said, here is a list of the worst passwords of 2013 as compiled by the website CRN.com, for which I do not have a membership, by the way:
10. Adobe123
9. iloveyou
8. 1234567
7. 111111
6. 123456789
5. abc123
4. qwerty
3. 12345678
2. password
1. 123456
If you're currently using any of the passwords on the list, you're not alone. Millions of other people are doing the same thing. But this list represents those passwords that are considered easiest to guess, and therefore easiest to hack. Using them doesn't guarantee your identity will be stolen, but it certainly raises your chances of having to share your identity with a lot of people who won't have your best interests at heart.
