After the analysis of millions of stolen passwords that end up posted online, SplashData has created a rankings of the worst passwords of 2011. SplashData specializes on password management and security solution.

According to the list, the worst password of all is “password” itself followed by 123456.  Some of the common phrases like “letmein” and “iloveyou” also rank 8th and 13th in the list.

1. password
2. 123456
3. 2345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passw0rd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football

The worst are listed. But, what about the best or the strongest passwords? The company has three suggestions to make it difficult for intruders to guess your passwords:

• include numbers, letters and special characters whenever possible.
• choose password that has 8 characters or more.
• It’s bad idea to use use the same passwords in multiple websites or accounts. Password managers can be used to keep track of various passwords (this is SplashData’s main business)

Personally, I don’t believe in password managers. I would prefer the difficulty of password depending on the importance of the account and use a pattern of passwords so that they are easier to remember. Even if I forget a password I can get to the right one after a couple of tries. In almost every websites, there are options to reset password, in worst case.

The Trick-or-Treaters in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada wrote a letter in response to a homeowner’s decision of not handing out Halloween candies. The kids calling themselves “Children of the Hood” also told about the previous owner Miss Toby who was generous enough to hand out candy apples.

The kids told that it was a mistake not to hand out candies in Halloween so they should correct it next year.

The homeowner posted the letter in Kijiji, a classified advertisement site with the title, “Looking for the author of this letter (see image)”.

Smart kids!