Password123456? Has The Password Had Its Day?

That's how long the password generator website Random-ize tells me it would take hackers to brute force their way through my most important password. This timescale is reassuring - but those of us who work in technology are likely to have been on top of password complexity for many years. Incredibly, many jaw-droppingly woeful passwords are still popular, for example: 'qwerty', '123456' and indeed'password'. According to SplashData's most recent annual top 100 chart of the World's Worst Passwords, the majority of the top ten can be cracked in less than one second. Like them or loathe them, passwords are an essential factor for so many of the tasks that shape our daily lives: from checking our bank balances to signing in to a Netflix account or unlocking our mobile phones. According to a 2017 study by Digital Guardian, 70% of people have more than ten password-protected accounts online, and 30% have "too many to count."