March 17, 2023
Your home wifi network may seem like an unlikely target for hackers, especially if you don't live in a dense urban area. You may even feel like you don't even need a wifi password. However, the risk of leaving your wifi network poorly protected is too great not to take action.
Here's the risk: A criminal could use a so-called packet sniffer, a type of software program or computer hardware, to monitor and record your non-secure Internet activity or simply use your WiFi connection to conduct criminal activity in secret — all under your name.
While Internet access without having to use a password may sound appealing, a safe and secure network is better. Let's look at the five worst and five best passwords for your WiFi network.
Worst Wifi Passwords
Here are the least-effective wifi passwords:
12345678
According to SplashData's most common passwords of 2022, this old classic remains the most ubiquitous — and therefore one of the worst and most guessable — wifi password in the world. It's easy to type, easy to remember and also very easy to guess. Variants like 87654321 and abcd1234 are no better. If you actually want random strangers to break into your wifi network, then using a simple string of ordered numbers or letters is the way to go.
zaq1zaq1
This one doesn't seem all that bad, it even feels random enough to be unguessable. But this popular password is not random at all: A glance at the far left-hand side of any keyboard shows that “zaq1" is just made up of the characters running bottom to top there. Here's a good rule of thumb: If a pattern is easy to spot, then a determined hacker will spot it.
Any Single Dictionary Word
Hackers can use automated software to submit hundreds of passwords a minute and crack your WiFi network. Meaning, they can quickly run through the entire dictionary. So any single word is easy pickings.
A Password You Already Use
It's generally never a good idea to use the same password across multiple accounts, and that's especially true for your WiFi password since you'll be sharing it with family and other visitors to your house. For instance, do you really want your son's friend, Travis, to know the password you use at for your bank account? We think not.
Your Home Address
It's not uncommon for businesses that provide free wifi to use their address as the password since it's be easy to remember. However, your home is not a cafe, even if your family treats it like one, so it's best to avoid this using your home address as a wifi password.
Best Wifi Passwords
Now, let's take a look at the best wifi passwords for your network:
A Random Address
While your home address is a no-go, an address no one would associate with you can make an excellent WiFi password. Throw in some special characters and you're set: 2532KodakAveTN#
A Randomized Assortment of Characters, Letters
It's unlikely a hacker will put in the time and resources to break a WiFi password like Y3%%xZ*&atT,>. Still, these sort of passwords are easy to forget, which can trip you up when you need to access your wifi network from a new, connected smart device. So be careful about the combination of characters you pick. Even Bill Burr, the man who essentially wrote the book on creating randomized passwords, now regrets encouraging people to do so.
A Dictionary Word Modified with Numbers, Special Characters
Using a single word works well if you modify it so it's harder for hackers to crack. “Chocolate" is a terrible WiFi password, for example. But “!Ch0co1&Te!2" isn't.
A Short Phrase
“You Shall Not Pass!" is a line famously yelled by Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings as he sought to stop the Balrog from passing a bridge in the Mines of Moria. It is also a very appropriate choice of words to introduce the idea of using passphrases instead of passwords.
Phrases provide complexity while remaining memorable. Do you have a favorite line in a movie? Then separate the words with special characters and you have a fairly strong wifi password, like: You%Shall%Not%Pass!
A Short Phrase with Numbers, Special Characters
Taking a short phrase and sprucing it up with lots of special characters will make it even harder to crack. Take “Winter is Coming" for instance: Simply placing it in parentheses, separating the words with exclamation points, replacing the vowels with numbers and putting the second word in CAPS gives you a very strong, yet still memorable wifi password: (w1nt5r!IS!c0m1ng).
Just don't use this particular password example since it comes from one of TV's most popular shows (Game of Thrones) and it is also in a public article on the Internet.
More Tips for Protecting Your Home Wifi Network
- How to Tell If Someone Is Stealing Your Wifi
- How to Add or Change Wifi Passwords
- Do I Have Too Many Devices on My Wifi
Did you know?
Cox delivers real-time alerts to protect the devices on your home wifi network with Advanced Security?
