Crossword puzzles are made using the most common leaked Adobe passwords

crossword

Probably the most interesting and funny response to the information revelation that Adobe had saved its users password hints, as well as emails, in just a plain text format, is the fact that someone has created a series of 10 crossword puzzles which use the top 1000 bad passwords revealed by the leak.

The man who put the project together is Ben Falconer, and aside from having a cool name, he wanted to highlight the fact that people don’t always have the best sense when it comes to choosing a password, but in a fun way.

Falconer got the idea after view the web comic XKCD, and although even he admits that there is no way to know for sure what the exact passwords were, it was pretty easy to guess the majority from the hints people used.

More than anything it seems that Falconer wants people to take away the fact that picking a password which is actually strong is something that is important. Given all the leaks and all the reveals of just how weak some systems can be, and the fact that there are hackers and government agents alike who wouldn’t mind getting a hold of your private information, it is incredibly important.

“The current best practice for passwords,” Falconer writes, “is to generate a unique random password for every login and use a password management service such as KeePass, RoboForm, or LastPass.”

We’ll see how many people follow that advice.

[via The Verge, Ben’s Crosswords, XKCD, image via SolveMall.com’s flickr]

 

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