Bad Passwords. Let’s hope your password didn’t make THIS list

We’re half-way through Fraud Prevention Month and the Competition Bureau of Canada is encouraging Canadians to update their passwords to protect their information with Change Your Password Day.

Password-protecting your computer, email and various accounts is one of the smartest and simplest ways you can safeguard your personal and business information.

Your password is only as strong and effective as you make it. Too difficult and it might be hard to remember, but too easy and you leave yourself vulnerable to theft.

Here are some overly common passwords you definitely want to avoid:

The worst passwords of 2015 (per SplashData)

123456
password
12345678
Qwerty
12345
123456789
football
1234
1234567
baseball

You can strengthen passwords by making them longer, substituting letters for symbols (like using “$” instead of “S”) and avoiding using the same password for different accounts.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) recommends creating a password of at least 12 characters and a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols.

Remember to avoid things that are too obvious, like birthdays, family or pet names, or common words!