My neighbor in apartment 4B told me his password was his cat's name and the year he got it.

We were talking in the building laundry room last week and he just said it out loud, like it was no big deal. I told him that was a bad idea, but he just shrugged and said he'd never been hacked. What's a simple way to explain to a non-tech person why that's such a weak password?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_lucas1mo agoMost Upvoted

It's like @joelt70 said, they literally use lists of common pet names and years. Your neighbor's password is basically public info now, and that's how accounts get taken over.

joelt701mo agoTop Commenter

Did you know hackers use lists of pet names and years to guess passwords?

hannahm391mo ago

Yeah, like @the_lucas said, my dog's name and my birthday would be a really bad password.