Hot take: My 'strong' password was just a famous movie quote with a 1 at the end

I was setting up a new account for my local library in Denver and it flagged my usual password as 'found in a data breach'. That password was a line from a very popular film, plus the year I was born. I always thought swapping letters for numbers made it safe. A quick search showed me that exact quote, with common number swaps, was on a list of the top 10,000 cracked passwords. It hit me that for years, I wasn't being clever, I was just following a script any bot would guess. My whole system was broken. Has anyone else had a go-to password formula they thought was solid, only to find out it's completely predictable?

3 comments

3 Comments

lindamartin1mo ago

Yeah, that "found in a data breach" warning was a real wake-up call for me too.

taylor_young1mo ago

My password manager flagged 27 reused passwords last month. That breach alert is no joke.

the_paul1mo ago

Read an article that said most people's "clever" substitutions are the first thing cracking software tries. Turns out we all think we're being unique while following the same basic rules.