You might have the same password as Kanye West but that’s not something to be proud of

Kanye West (or “Ye” as he likes to be addressed these days) is no stranger to the limelight but most of the time it is for all the weirdest reasons — the latest being his proposal for a plane he calls the “iPlane”. He revealed his wonderful avionic proposal during a visit to the White House last week with President Donald Trump as the main audience amongst discussions about access to job opportunities for former convicts.

The iPlane, while interesting, is not the most notable thing the Kanye West White House visit revealed. What’s even more interesting is the password Ye uses for his iPhone.

As you can see in the video, Ye’s password for his iPhone is a very sophisticated set of characters… “000000”. Six zeroes. A very easy to predict, very common and very not secure six zeroes. For a celebrity, Ye is surprisingly very lax when it comes to the security of his personal device which I can assume would contain a lot of very personal information that a lot of people would love to get their hands on — very private, intimate photos of Kim Kardashian maybe?

Don’t get me wrong. Who am I to judge the password Kanye West uses to secure his phone. Many of us mere mortals have relatively simple passwords too but that doesn’t make it right. It’s downright dangerous. Whether you’re a celebrity Ye or a fledgling writer trying to make an impression in a male-dominated tech journalism industry, it is extremely risky to use these really predictable passwords for anything. This is nothing new, obviously, but if Kanye’s password is anything to go by then it looks like people are aware that these common passwords are known but they simply just can’t be bothered.

What are the most common six-digit password used for smartphones?
According to security researchers 4iG, these are the ten most common six-digit codes employed by people protecting their smartphones.

1) 123456
2) 111111
3) 123123
4) 123321
5) 654321
6) 666666
7) 121212
8) 222222
9) 555555
10) 112233

Ok so Kanye’s passcode is not on the list of the most used 6-digit passwords, “000000” ridiculously easy to guess just out of pure luck, it’s repetitive nature also makes it virtually useless as a password.

Why are predictable and repetitive passwords are not recommended

The risk should be pretty obvious but worth pointing out nevertheless. If someone has your password to your device, it is essentially game over. They could potentially access the contents you own on your device or even take control of your social media sites, which could be extremely dangerous. Most of us already know social media stores our data. But we often underestimate how much a fraudster could do within minutes of access to an account. A few simple clicks on your social media account will be sufficient to help a criminal open a credit card, loan or new bank account under your name. Pretty scary right?

How do you create a super secure password?
If you are going to use a password for your phone, or for anything, make an effort to make it complex and difficult to remember. If remembering complex passwords is not your thing, then try a password manager that remembers everything for you. All you need to do is remember the password for the password manager. A password manager also makes it easy for you to have different passwords for every account that you might have. Biometrics are good too, so if your device has it use your fingerprint, iris or face as the key to lock your phone.

So if you are using any one of the passwords, you know what to do next.

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