Passwords From PHPBB Attack Analyzed

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Passwords From PHPBB Attack Analyzed

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday February 7, 2009 @05:19AM from the convenience-trumps-security dept.

Robert David Graham writes "The hacker who broke into phpbb.com posted the passwords online. I was sent the password list, so I ran it through my analysis tools and posted the results. Nothing terribly surprising here; 123456 and password are the most popular passwords as you would expect. I tried to be a bit more creative in my analysis, though, to get into the psychology of why people choose the passwords they do. '14% of passwords were patterns on the keyboard, like "1234" or "qwerty" or "asdf." There are a lot of different patterns people choose, like "1qaz2wsx" or "1q2w3e." I spent a while googling "159357" trying to figure out how to categorize it, then realized it was a pattern on the numeric keypad. I suppose whereas "1234" is popular among right-hand people, "159357" will be popular among lefties.'"

9 of 299 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

159357 popular with lefties? by LordKaT · 2009-02-07 05:22 · Score: 5, Funny

The numeric keypad is on the right ... how exactly does this work out?
1. Re:159357 popular with lefties? by Majik+Sheff · 2009-02-07 06:06 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I don't have a right hand you insensitive clod!
  
  --
  Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
2. Re:159357 popular with lefties? by auric_dude · 2009-02-07 06:42 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Nothing too sinister about being left handed.
passwords by kohaku · 2009-02-07 05:23 · Score: 5, Funny

What the hell, Slashdot? Stop posting all my passwords!
Re:Left and right reversed? by argent · 2009-02-07 05:42 · Score: 5, Funny

That's the first time I've heard of one-handed typing being commonplace. I thought it was restricted to certain kinds of websites. :)
Inaccurate by DarkAnt · 2009-02-07 05:49 · Score: 5, Funny

Sex and God are not even on the list.
1. Re:Inaccurate by MRe_nl · 2009-02-07 07:35 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  from a link/article:(Pearlady said, on January 6th, 2009 at 10:35 am)
  "Just had to mention hearing about the man who wanted to use "Penis" as his password, but the computer threw it out because it wasn't long enough.....
  
  --
  "Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
Re:Left and right reversed? by cslax · 2009-02-07 06:14 · Score: 5, Funny

I use the mouse with either hand, if the hand gets tired I switch hands.
Can be misinterpreted in so many ways.
Who needs this? by Javagator · 2009-02-07 08:57 · Score: 4, Funny

Who needs a list of the 500 worst passwords. What we need is a list of the 500 best passwords.