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  3. RockYou Hack Reveals the Worst 20 Passwords

RockYou Hack Reveals the Worst 20 Passwords

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  • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

    Haven't read the article (because it took so long to load that I got bored and went away), but to be honest any site which stores a password in any form other than one-way encrypted or SHA hashed is not one I realy want to visit.

    All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.

    X Offline
    X Offline
    Xiangyang Liu
    wrote on last edited by
    #13

    OriginalGriff wrote:

    any site which stores a password in any form other than one-way encrypted or SHA hashed is not one I realy want to visit.

    With at least one exception, I suppose? Hint: Code Project ;)

    My .NET Business Application Framework My Home Page My Younger Son & His "PET"

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    • R Rob Graham

      The article doesn't actually say that they don't. Given the passwords, the list could have been constructed by a bot hacking accounts with a bot using a dictionary attack, but I suspect your assumption that they just stored the passwords either clear text or with reversible encryption is correct. 5 for the observation, which I heartily agree with.

      D Offline
      D Offline
      Dan Neely
      wrote on last edited by
      #14

      I've read a few more articles about the breach. Plaintext passwords in the DB and a simple SQL injection attack were involved.

      3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18

      OriginalGriffO B 2 Replies Last reply
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      • Y Yusuf

        from the article: By far, the most popular password on the site was "123456," apparently satisfying a minimum character limit on the site's password restrictions, but doing little for security. A full 290,731 users used this password, far more than the runner-up, the slightly less complex "12345, which attracted 79,078 uses. clickty[^] I have learned a simple trick to create mid-to-strong password by simple substitution. Let us take "codeproject" as case example, it goes as follows - first let us capitalize some letters => CodeProject - substitute "o" with "0" => C0deProject - upper case e (E) can be imagined as mirror image of 3 => C0d3Pr0j3ct - let us sprinkle some chars (SHIFT 3 = # on the US layout keyboard) => C0d#Pr0j#ct - Finally P can be imagines as mirror image of 9 => C0d#9r0j#ct So we went from codeproject => C0d#9r0j#ct and I can use Code Project as my password hint. :cool: The cool part is there is no limit to the imagination and the resulting password can be as close as random characters. How do you create your password?

        Yusuf May I help you?

        E Offline
        E Offline
        Ennis Ray Lynch Jr
        wrote on last edited by
        #15

        I use A real simple forty-two character password

        Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane

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        • Y Yusuf

          from the article: By far, the most popular password on the site was "123456," apparently satisfying a minimum character limit on the site's password restrictions, but doing little for security. A full 290,731 users used this password, far more than the runner-up, the slightly less complex "12345, which attracted 79,078 uses. clickty[^] I have learned a simple trick to create mid-to-strong password by simple substitution. Let us take "codeproject" as case example, it goes as follows - first let us capitalize some letters => CodeProject - substitute "o" with "0" => C0deProject - upper case e (E) can be imagined as mirror image of 3 => C0d3Pr0j3ct - let us sprinkle some chars (SHIFT 3 = # on the US layout keyboard) => C0d#Pr0j#ct - Finally P can be imagines as mirror image of 9 => C0d#9r0j#ct So we went from codeproject => C0d#9r0j#ct and I can use Code Project as my password hint. :cool: The cool part is there is no limit to the imagination and the resulting password can be as close as random characters. How do you create your password?

          Yusuf May I help you?

          E Offline
          E Offline
          Ennis Ray Lynch Jr
          wrote on last edited by
          #16

          Just how important is a very secure password when the site you are using gets hacked and exposes your PW in plain-text?

          Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane

          Y 1 Reply Last reply
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          • Y Yusuf

            from the article: By far, the most popular password on the site was "123456," apparently satisfying a minimum character limit on the site's password restrictions, but doing little for security. A full 290,731 users used this password, far more than the runner-up, the slightly less complex "12345, which attracted 79,078 uses. clickty[^] I have learned a simple trick to create mid-to-strong password by simple substitution. Let us take "codeproject" as case example, it goes as follows - first let us capitalize some letters => CodeProject - substitute "o" with "0" => C0deProject - upper case e (E) can be imagined as mirror image of 3 => C0d3Pr0j3ct - let us sprinkle some chars (SHIFT 3 = # on the US layout keyboard) => C0d#Pr0j#ct - Finally P can be imagines as mirror image of 9 => C0d#9r0j#ct So we went from codeproject => C0d#9r0j#ct and I can use Code Project as my password hint. :cool: The cool part is there is no limit to the imagination and the resulting password can be as close as random characters. How do you create your password?

            Yusuf May I help you?

            D Offline
            D Offline
            David Crow
            wrote on last edited by
            #17

            Yusuf wrote:

            How do you create your password?

            Take a poem, song lyric, quote, etc, and use the first letter from each word. You can get 20-30 characters easy. That other stuff is just too hard to remember.

            "One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson

            "Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons

            M 1 Reply Last reply
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            • F fred_

              I use KeePass's random password generation

              C Offline
              C Offline
              Corporal Agarn
              wrote on last edited by
              #18

              I have the free version but the generated passwords are hard to remember. By the way who am I :confused:

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              • E Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

                Just how important is a very secure password when the site you are using gets hacked and exposes your PW in plain-text?

                Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane

                Y Offline
                Y Offline
                Yusuf
                wrote on last edited by
                #19

                Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:

                Just how important is a very secure password when the site you are using gets hacked and exposes your PW in plain-text?

                Well said.

                Yusuf May I help you?

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • D Dan Neely

                  I've read a few more articles about the breach. Plaintext passwords in the DB and a simple SQL injection attack were involved.

                  3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18

                  OriginalGriffO Offline
                  OriginalGriffO Offline
                  OriginalGriff
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #20

                  Oooo! I love the smell of professionalism in the morning!

                  All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.

                  "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                  "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                  1 Reply Last reply
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                  • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                    Haven't read the article (because it took so long to load that I got bored and went away), but to be honest any site which stores a password in any form other than one-way encrypted or SHA hashed is not one I realy want to visit.

                    All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.

                    C Offline
                    C Offline
                    Chris Losinger
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #21

                    even if they are hashed, you can find out who uses "123456" by generating the hash for "123456" and finding the matches in your list of hashed pwds.

                    image processing toolkits | batch image processing

                    OriginalGriffO W A M 4 Replies Last reply
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                    • C Chris Losinger

                      even if they are hashed, you can find out who uses "123456" by generating the hash for "123456" and finding the matches in your list of hashed pwds.

                      image processing toolkits | batch image processing

                      OriginalGriffO Offline
                      OriginalGriffO Offline
                      OriginalGriff
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #22

                      Good point!

                      All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.

                      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                      H 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • C Corporal Agarn

                        I have the free version but the generated passwords are hard to remember. By the way who am I :confused:

                        P Offline
                        P Offline
                        Pete OHanlon
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #23

                        djj55 wrote:

                        By the way who am I

                        Tonight on America's Dumbest Criminals, we deal with Identity theft. My name's ...????

                        "WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith

                        As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.

                        My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Onyx

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                        • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                          Good point!

                          All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.

                          H Offline
                          H Offline
                          Hosey
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #24

                          Unless the hash is salted... (hmm sounds like a meal for stoners.. :/)

                          1 Reply Last reply
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                          • Y Yusuf

                            from the article: By far, the most popular password on the site was "123456," apparently satisfying a minimum character limit on the site's password restrictions, but doing little for security. A full 290,731 users used this password, far more than the runner-up, the slightly less complex "12345, which attracted 79,078 uses. clickty[^] I have learned a simple trick to create mid-to-strong password by simple substitution. Let us take "codeproject" as case example, it goes as follows - first let us capitalize some letters => CodeProject - substitute "o" with "0" => C0deProject - upper case e (E) can be imagined as mirror image of 3 => C0d3Pr0j3ct - let us sprinkle some chars (SHIFT 3 = # on the US layout keyboard) => C0d#Pr0j#ct - Finally P can be imagines as mirror image of 9 => C0d#9r0j#ct So we went from codeproject => C0d#9r0j#ct and I can use Code Project as my password hint. :cool: The cool part is there is no limit to the imagination and the resulting password can be as close as random characters. How do you create your password?

                            Yusuf May I help you?

                            U Offline
                            U Offline
                            User 4399548
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #25

                            Don't forget to include a couple of :-) in you pwd. (or :-( for your online banking).

                            1 Reply Last reply
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                            • D David Crow

                              Yusuf wrote:

                              How do you create your password?

                              Take a poem, song lyric, quote, etc, and use the first letter from each word. You can get 20-30 characters easy. That other stuff is just too hard to remember.

                              "One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson

                              "Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons

                              M Offline
                              M Offline
                              Member 4593559
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #26

                              Passwords are just a giant PITA tho. It bugs me that just about any site or organisation I go to that requests I use a password, all have a completely different policy on how the password is composed, some accept all alphanumeric characters, some don't, some specify a number at the start of the string, others at the end, it leads me to having a multitude of passwords, that, more often than not, I have to go through the rigmarole of resetting a password everytime I visit a site, because I cant remember the exact sequence of characters for that specific sites password. Now surely that is defeating the object of having a password in the first place. With that in mind, you can see why some people just use strings like "123456" as at least it is easy to remember. I wish someone would invent another way to protect access to your stuff on line.....

                              1 Reply Last reply
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                              • C Chris Losinger

                                even if they are hashed, you can find out who uses "123456" by generating the hash for "123456" and finding the matches in your list of hashed pwds.

                                image processing toolkits | batch image processing

                                W Offline
                                W Offline
                                wibleywoo
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #27

                                unless the hashes are salted... still possible to find a match but you would need to generate a new hash for each check.

                                1 Reply Last reply
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                                • Y Yusuf

                                  from the article: By far, the most popular password on the site was "123456," apparently satisfying a minimum character limit on the site's password restrictions, but doing little for security. A full 290,731 users used this password, far more than the runner-up, the slightly less complex "12345, which attracted 79,078 uses. clickty[^] I have learned a simple trick to create mid-to-strong password by simple substitution. Let us take "codeproject" as case example, it goes as follows - first let us capitalize some letters => CodeProject - substitute "o" with "0" => C0deProject - upper case e (E) can be imagined as mirror image of 3 => C0d3Pr0j3ct - let us sprinkle some chars (SHIFT 3 = # on the US layout keyboard) => C0d#Pr0j#ct - Finally P can be imagines as mirror image of 9 => C0d#9r0j#ct So we went from codeproject => C0d#9r0j#ct and I can use Code Project as my password hint. :cool: The cool part is there is no limit to the imagination and the resulting password can be as close as random characters. How do you create your password?

                                  Yusuf May I help you?

                                  C Offline
                                  C Offline
                                  CP028
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #28

                                  https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm[^]

                                  1 Reply Last reply
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                                  • E Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

                                    I use A real simple forty-two character password

                                    Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane

                                    B Offline
                                    B Offline
                                    Brad Stiles
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #29

                                    Where do *you* bank. :)

                                    Currently reading: "The Prince", by Nicolo Machiavelli

                                    1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • C Chris Losinger

                                      even if they are hashed, you can find out who uses "123456" by generating the hash for "123456" and finding the matches in your list of hashed pwds.

                                      image processing toolkits | batch image processing

                                      A Offline
                                      A Offline
                                      Andreas Mertens
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #30

                                      > even if they are hashed, you can find out who uses "123456" by generating the hash for "123456" and finding the matches in your list of hashed pwds. What you do is include a "salt" value when you create the hash. This is a known random value, stored with the hash. You apply it with the password when creating the hash to see if it matches, but is really difficult to apply in the reverse direction. So a simple dictionary-style comparison won't work.

                                      C 1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • C Chris Losinger

                                        even if they are hashed, you can find out who uses "123456" by generating the hash for "123456" and finding the matches in your list of hashed pwds.

                                        image processing toolkits | batch image processing

                                        M Offline
                                        M Offline
                                        Member 2053006
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #31

                                        That is why you use the user name and a private string to salt the hash, so no two users with the same password will have the same hashed password. Because of the private string you can not even generate a hash and inject that into the database.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • A Andreas Mertens

                                          > even if they are hashed, you can find out who uses "123456" by generating the hash for "123456" and finding the matches in your list of hashed pwds. What you do is include a "salt" value when you create the hash. This is a known random value, stored with the hash. You apply it with the password when creating the hash to see if it matches, but is really difficult to apply in the reverse direction. So a simple dictionary-style comparison won't work.

                                          C Offline
                                          C Offline
                                          Chris Losinger
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #32

                                          AndreasMertens wrote:

                                          his is a known random value, stored with the hash.

                                          yes, i know what a salt is. but, even if a salt value was used, it's sitting right there in the DB along with the hash. and you already know the target password, so the problem of finding who used that password remains trivial.

                                          image processing toolkits | batch image processing

                                          A 1 Reply Last reply
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