Weekend Trivia ~ Saturday

9 years ago

Good Saturday morning, Cottagers!! It's a mild, sunny day here. I got all my errands done yesterday, so I can play today!!
Well, to varying degrees, we are all computer users - and that means passwords. It's arguably the easiest, most basic way to protect your personal information. Yet people still don't make the effort to create strong passwords to log in to social media, email, stores and other websites. From its annual compilation of 3.3 million passwords leaked online, SplashData has pulled the 25 most common -- and therefore least secure -- not-so-secret codes.
This year's list also reveals that millennials, who were raised on the Internet and ought to know better, have some bad habits to contribute. SpashData found that many people use their birth year as their password -- and 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992 are all in the top 100.

So, here is your task: to divine the top 5 unsecure passwords. I will give you one hint right away - the top 5 are all 5 digits or longer!! And oh yes, several are still on the list from 2013!!

Nancy.

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Comments (20)

thinman
9 years ago
No sun here. We have a few inches of new snow with some drifts and it's right at the freezing mark. I'll be snow blowing in a little while, which is fine, since it's been a couple of weeks since I had to do that.

So passwords. I saw the recent news release and can definitely remember a few. Dumb question, maybe, but by the top five, you probably mean the most used bad passwords, right? As opposed to the five most stupid passwords?

Example: In my opinion, the password password is the dumbest possible. Would I rank that number one, or could it be number ten because not that many people use it for their password?

TM
aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
9 years ago
Good one TM, I bet 'Password' is one of them LOL. How about 123456? This is going to be a guessing game for me.

Annette
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Well, I believe you have all figured it out - it was to allow the knight/warrior to easily mount his steed. I got the info from a web site called The Straight Dope, which is very cleverly written. I will copy right from them, as I like the way it is written. The fact is that most people don't mount a horse from the left side. Most people call a cab. Those having some acquaintance with horsemanship, however, know that the left side is the horse's "near" side while the right side is the "off" side. This is often explained in terms of swords, but we're then obliged to acknowledge obvious fact #2: While a fair number of people still ride horses, you're living in one tough neighborhood if you need to do so while wearing a sword. About those swords. I'm afraid you've gotten the explanation a little scrambled. As you've observed, swords are traditionally worn on the left, since that makes it easier for a right-handed swordsman to pull the sword from its scabbard. If you're wearing a sword on the left, you'll want to mount your horse on its left, since otherwise the sword will get in the way. The practice goes way back before the medieval heyday of knights. In fact, it most likely originated when sword-toting warriors first began riding horses into battle. Let's start with a fundamental fact, essential to understanding equines: The horse isn't a predator--it's prey. Even after millennia of domestication, the horse is physically and mentally hardwired to detect and elude attackers. Its eyes are set on the sides of its head, giving it almost 360 degrees of vision. It sees two monocular fields at once, one through each eye. The binocular vision we human predators take for granted, the horse has in only a small area directly ahead of it. So what it "knows" on one side, it doesn't "know" on the other, until it's been shown. The horse's instincts dispose it to be suspicious of anything new in its environment. The thing behind that rock that wasn't there yesterday could be a lion! What does this have to do with mounting from the left? It means that a horse who's been taught to accept being mounted only from one side may be perfectly docile when the rider clambers aboard on that side, yet spook and refuse to stand still if approached from the unfamiliar direction. That's why authorities on horse training (including our old friend Xenophon) recommend teaching horses to be mounted from the off side, so that they'll stand still for it if circumstances demand that the rider get on from that side But why prefer the left side when swords are no longer a problem? Partly it's the inertia of tradition--horses and humans are both creatures of habit. But it's also common sense to have a standard approach. If you didn't know which side a particular horse had learned to be mounted from, you could get a nasty surprise if you tried to get on from the "wrong" side. There you have it - tradition again, with a little common sense thrown in. I believe everyone got, though perhaps not the monocular bit - lol, I'll let that pass!! So, for everyone: Thanks for playing, and see you all next week! Nancy.
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Well, yes, I was looking for the Bermuda Triangle, and you all got there - no one lost, I hope? Welcome jackier123 - nice to 'see' you here!! On December 5th, at 2:10 p.m., five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers comprising Flight 19 take off from the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on a routine three-hour training mission. Flight 19 was scheduled to take them due east for 120 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 120-mile leg that would return them to the naval base. They never returned. Two hours after the flight began, the leader of the squadron, who had been flying in the area for more than six months, reported that his compass and back-up compass had failed and that his position was unknown. The other planes experienced similar instrument malfunctions. Radio facilities on land were contacted to find the location of the lost squadron, but none were successful. After two more hours of confused messages from the fliers, a distorted radio transmission from the squadron leader was heard at 6:20 p.m., apparently calling for his men to prepare to ditch their aircraft simultaneously because of lack of fuel. A PBY Catalina left after 18:00 to search for Flight 19 and guide them back if they could be located. After dark, two PBM Mariner seaplanes originally scheduled for their own training flights were diverted to perform square pattern searches in the area west of 29°N 79°W. PBM-5 BuNo 59225 took off at 19:27 from Banana River Naval Air Station (now Patrick Air Force Base), called in a routine radio message at 19:30 and was never heard from again. At 21.15, the tanker SS Gaines Mills reported it had observed flames from an apparent explosion leaping 100 ft (30 m) high and burning for 10 minutes, at position 28.59°N 80.25°W. Captain Shonna Stanley reported unsuccessfully searching for survivors through a pool of oil. The escort carrier USS Solomons also reported losing radar contact with an aircraft at the same position and time. When Christopher Columbus sailed through the area on his first voyage to the New World, he reported that a great flame of fire (probably a meteor) crashed into the sea one night and that a strange light appeared in the distance a few weeks later. He also wrote about erratic compass readings, perhaps because at that time a sliver of the Bermuda Triangle was one of the few places on Earth where true north and magnetic north lined up. After gaining widespread fame as the first person to sail solo around the globe, Joshua Slocum disappeared on a 1909 voyage from Martha’s Vineyard to South America. Though it’s unclear exactly what happened, many sources later attributed his death to the Bermuda Triangle. 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As one skeptic put it, trying to find a common cause for every Bermuda Triangle disappearance is no more logical than trying to find a common cause for every automobile accident in Arizona. And those navy PBM's? Still missing!! In 1986, the wreckage of an Avenger was found off the Florida coast during the search for the wreckage of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Aviation archaeologist Jon Myhre raised this wreck from the ocean floor in 1990. He mistakenly believed it was one of the missing planes. In 1991, a treasure-hunting expedition led by Graham Hawkes announced that the wreckage of five Avengers had been discovered off the coast of Florida, but that tail numbers revealed they were not Flight 19. In 2004 a BBC documentary showed Hawkes returning with a new submersible 12 years later and identifying one of the planes by its bureau number (a clearly readable 23990) as a flight lost at sea on 9 October 1943, over two years before Flight 19 (its crew all survived), but he was unable to definitively identify the other planes; the documentary concluded that "Despite the odds, they are just a random collection of accidents that came to rest in the same place 12 miles from home." Records showed training accidents between 1942 and 1945 accounted for the loss of 95 aviation personnel from NAS Fort Lauderdale In 1992, another expedition located scattered debris on the ocean floor, but nothing could be identified. In the last decade, searchers have been expanding their area to include farther east, into the Atlantic Ocean, but the remains of Flight 19 have still never been confirmed found. And one weird, supernatural footnote: Those PBM's should have had 14 men on board, not 13 (hmmmm). 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And there you have it, Cynthia!! Though the book has been characterized in media reports as a sequel to Lee's best-selling novel, Go Set a Watchman was written in the mid-1950s, before she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, which was published in 1960. It was set aside when her editor suggested that she write another novel from the young Scout Finch's perspective. The manuscript was then lost for many years, until being rediscovered by her lawyer in the fall of 2014. It will be published as originally written, with no revisions. The phrase is from Isaiah 21: 6, "For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees." It is referring to the fall of Babylon. Some publications have called the timing of the book "suspicious", citing Lee's declining health, statements she had made over several decades that she would not write or release another novel, and the death of her sister (and caretaker) just two months before the announcement. NPR reported on the news of her new book release, with circumstances "raising questions about whether she is being taken advantage of in her old age." Some publications have even called for fans to boycott the work. Mainstream news sources, including NPR, BBC News, and Jezebel, have reported that the conditions surrounding the release of the book are unclear and posit that Lee may not have had full control of the decision. However, historian and Lee's longtime friend, Wayne Flynt told the Associated Press that the "narrative of senility, exploitation of this helpless little old lady is just hogwash. It's just complete bunk". Flynt said he found Lee capable of giving consent, and believes no one will ever know for certain the terms of said consent. That having been said, Lee is quite deaf and suffers profound vision loss from macular degeneration. Truman Capote, then Persons, lived next door with his aunts while his mother was in New York. Like Dill, Capote had an impressive imagination and a gift for fascinating stories. Both Lee and Capote were atypical children: both loved to read. Lee was a scrappy tomboy who was quick to fight, but Capote was ridiculed for his advanced vocabulary and lisp. She and Capote made up and acted out stories they wrote on an old Underwood typewriter Lee's father gave them. They became good friends when both felt alienated from their peers; Capote called the two of them "apart people". In 1960, Capote and Lee traveled to Kansas together to investigate the multiple murders that were the basis for Capote's nonfiction novel In Cold Blood. Well, interesting subject, but a weak question. I shall have to do better next week!! For Everyone (I believe?): Thanks for playing. See you all next week. Nancy.
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Wow TM may need to give you an extra star!! lol. The National Association for Stock Car Racing--or NASCAR, as it will come to be widely known--is officially incorporated February 21st, 1948. NASCAR racing will go on to become one of America's most popular spectator sports, as well as a multi-billion-dollar industry. The driving force behind the establishment of NASCAR was William "Bill" France Sr. (1909-1992), a mechanic and auto-repair shop owner from Washington, D.C., who in the mid-1930s moved to Daytona Beach, Florida. The Daytona area was a gathering spot for racing enthusiasts, and France became involved in racing cars and promoting races. After witnessing how racing rules could vary from event to event and how dishonest promoters could abscond with prize money, France felt there was a need for a governing body to sanction and promote racing. He gathered members of the racing community to discuss the idea, and NASCAR was born, with its official incorporation in February 1921. France served as NASCAR's first president and played a key role in shaping its development in the sport's early decades. NASCAR held its first Strictly Stock race on June 19, 1949, at the Charlotte Speedway in North Carolina. Some 13,000 fans were on hand to watch Glenn Dunnaway finish the 200-lap race first in his Ford; however, Jim Roper (who drove a Lincoln) collected the $2,000 prize after Dunnaway was disqualified for illegal rear springs on his vehicle. In the early years of NASCAR, competitors drove the same types of cars that people drove on the street--Buicks, Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, among others--with minimal modifications. (Today, the cars are highly customized.) So there we are - not my cup of tea really, though I know it is popular with lots of folk. Now, going to try for stars again (I guess I should have been practicing all week!!) Well, not my sparkly ones - I need to find and save them again as I haven't figured out how to get them over from Photobucket. Have a great week, thanks for playing. Now I'm off to see Cynthia's question. Nancy.
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midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
Original Author
9 years ago
These are the most commonly used bad passwords, and would it surprise you to know that #6 is 123456? I'll bet not, Annette!! I use so many different passwords at work, for each different system I use. I might seem easy to say use the same one but each system has it's own requirement: a capital, no capitals, a number, no numbers, etc. And they all expire at different time frames. The last time one of my passwords expired, my system would not allow me to change it!! I had to get a lead agent to go in as me from a different computer to change it - and his password he created for me? Password1 - lol.

Nancy.
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
9 years ago
I just saw something about this either online or in the paper. Can I remember them all? Of course not! Can I rember at least one? Questionable. Sigh. So pathetic.

I am hunkered down doing school work. Ugh. Five IEPs, two educational reports, and grades due within the next week. Just shoot me now.

Cynthia
midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
Original Author
9 years ago
Teachers do so much that others do not see!! Well, you have 1 & 2!! Doing well, I would say. #3 is a version of #1, and #5 is a kind of keyboard or a pattern. Hmmm...

Nancy.
thinman
9 years ago
I'm pretty sure I saw 12345 in the list as well as 111111, or there may have been more 1s.

I don't know if it made the top five, but I know qwerty is used.

TM
mnwsgal
9 years ago
The ones I remember are the ones listed above, 12345, 11111, password.

In the low 40s for us, a heat wave! Sunny and gorgeous day. Have spent most of it inside though at a funeral. Not a sad day but a thoughtful day and will miss this dear friend.
midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
Original Author
9 years ago
TM, you are a good guesser!! lol.

Nancy.
midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
Original Author
9 years ago
Oh Bobbie - funerals are hard. Sorry to hear that. It has been a funny day here - started out sunny, then went overcast and now it is a Scotch mist - not to be confused with the drink!!

Nancy.
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
9 years ago
Bobbie, it is always difficult to lose a dear friend. It is never easy for those of us left behind, is it?

Well, I am bleary eyed and bleary brained, if that is possible. I would guess that 12345, 01234, 11111, 10101, and a person's zip code ( but I may be remembering that from the article, not sure) would be used a lot.

Heading to bed. Would love to stay up to watch the skating, but not sure I can stay awake. Ashley Wagner is from our area, but I am not a huge fan of hers. Hoping Gracie Gold can pull ahead.

Hope I can come up with something for tomorrow for you all!

Cynthia
aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
9 years ago
How about 000000 or 123ABC?

Annette
mnwsgal
9 years ago
From Nancy's comment I think that some of the others might be a variation of the 123456. 1234567, 12345678, 123456789
Password, 111111

No idea in what order.

Thank you, Nancy and Cynthia for your concern. I'm doing okay and today's service was truly a celebration of her life.
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
9 years ago
Oh yeah, password. Forgot that one.

Cynthia
midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
Original Author
9 years ago
lol,well, as you have demonstrated the most common are not that hard to guess, or too terribly creative!! It is also noted where they ranked the year before.

1. 123456 (Unchanged from 2013)

2. password (Unchanged)

3. 12345 (Up 17)

4. 12345678 (Down 1)

5. qwerty (Down 1)

I was told by a millenial that patterns were the new thing, and he set a password up for me - q1w2e3r4 - which as it turns out is not that original, or that easy to type into a tablet. I abandoned that for my own form of original. I don't have anything to hacked or data-mined for, so I seem safe.

I believe everyone had a good idea of the top at the end, so for everyone:
{{gwi:598938}}

Hope you had fun with the guessing game. See you all next week. I am back on my diet for the next 2 weeks. The 12 lbs. I lost stayed off nicely over the holiday season, so I am keen to get more off for Spring!! Thanks for playing.

Nancy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's the article
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
9 years ago
Such fun! Thanks for the generous stars!

Congrats on the weight loss! I would love to lose about 15 lbs. No willpower though and a carb addict, I'm afraid. Still, did you do anything special? My goal is to up my exercise by walking the dogs every afternoon after school. Haven't started yet. Ã°ÂÂÂ

Cynthia
mnwsgal
9 years ago
Thanks for the stars. I read that even though those are the most common used passwords the % of people using them is very small and getting smaller each year. They are the most common passwords because most people use passwords that few others use as well.
thinman
9 years ago
I always wonder how they get these statistics. My understanding is that all of the passwords we use, say the ones for garden web, are stored on servers in encrypted files, and even the system admins can't actually reach in and extract any passwords. That's why, when you forget your password, they always send you a new one, rather than telling you your old one. If they can't get at the passwords, how can anyone know what the most common passwords are?

Oh, well, I'm sure they have their ways.

Lots of fun, Nancy. Thank you!

TM
mnwsgal
9 years ago
Self reporting, I expect. The same as various polls where one is asked. Who knows if what the person responds is correct or just what that person thinks the poller wants to hear.
thinman
9 years ago
I always wonder how they get these statistics. My understanding is that all of the passwords we use, say the ones for garden web, are stored on servers in encrypted files, and even the system admins can't actually reach in and extract any passwords. That's why, when you forget your password, they always send you a new one, rather than telling you your old one. If they can't get at the passwords, how can anyone know what the most common passwords are?

Oh, well, I'm sure they have their ways.

Lots of fun, Nancy. Thank you!

TM
thinman
9 years ago
For the record, I have no idea how the double post happened.

TM

Weekend Trivia ~ Saturday

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