Did you save passwords on your browser?

Never store unencrypted passwords on a computer’s browser. Doing so makes it too easy for hackers to access the data with tools like Trojans and then access private accounts, warns German computer magazine C’t.

The magazine recommends that people who insist on storing passwords on a browser at least use some kind of master password, which means that all stored access data is safely encrypted. However, that option is only available with Firefox and Opera.

To access this function in Mozilla’s Firefox, users must go to Extras/Settings/Security and then click the option to “use a master password.” Opera automatically asks the first time a password is stored if users wouldn’t rather set up a master password.

Many computer users do not adequately protect their accounts. The most popular passwords include “123456” or “Password” — both of which are incredibly easy for cybercriminals to figure out. Worse, one password often tends to provide access to multiple accounts.

C’t advises using passwords with at least eight characters and to make each password unique to a particular website.

Do you know the most commonly used passwords for hacked Yahoo! accounts

Are you having passwords with "123456," "abc123" or "password"? If your answer is yes, then you’re putting yourself at a high risk of having your account compromised.

It is very easy-to-guess passwords such as "123456," "qwerty," "abc123" and "password" which are used over and over again on accounts, making it extremely easy for hackers to compromise accounts.

An analysis of the more than 440,000 passwords and usernames posted on the web as part of the recent Yahoo! breach has revealed that despite warnings, users continue to use the same easy-to-guess passwords.

Following the Yahoo!breach, Slovakian IT security company ESET posted some “quick statistics” on the hacked accounts and passwords, revealing that just under 1,700 of the hacked accounts (0.38%) had "123456" as their password. "Password," "welcome," "ninja," "abc123," "123456789," "12345678" and "sunshine" followed as the next most commonly used passwords.

"Password," "welcome," "qwerty," "monkey" and "jesus" were the top five most used base words for creating passwords, said ESET.

“Since all the accounts are in plain-text, anyone with an account present in the leak which also has the same password on other sites (e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, etc), should assume that someone has accessed their account,” advised ESET.

According to password management application maker SplashID, “password” topped the list of most commonly used passwords in 2011. "123456," "12345678," "qwerty," "abc123," "monkey 1234567," "letmein," "trustno1" and "dragon" were also in the top ten list for 2011.

If you are concerned that your account was compromised in the Yahoo! attack you can visit security company Sucuri’s online check at labs.sucuri.net/?yahooleak to see if your email account was jeopardized.

Top 10 passwords, with number of times used, found for the compromised Yahoo! accounts according to ESET:

123456 = 1666 (0.38%)

password = 780 (0.18%)

welcome = 436 (0.1%)

ninja = 333 (0.08%)

abc123 = 250 (0.06%)

123456789 = 222 (0.05%)

12345678 = 208 (0.05%)

sunshine = 205 (0.05%)

princess = 202 (0.05%)

qwerty = 172 (0.04%)