Researchers at Microsoft and Harvard University warn that popular passwords pose a bigger risk to online security than weak ones. They suggest that many tools to enforce strong passwords actually steer users to choices that are easy to guess. The researchers will present their paper, Popularity is Everything: A new approach to protecting passwords from statistical-guessing attacks at the USENIX HotSec 10 Workshop in Washington, D.C. on August 10. The dispiriting lack of originality that many online users display in choosing passwords has been on display in recent months. Twitter has blocked 370 obvious passwords from being used to secure its users accounts.
Source: https://threatpost.com/research-weird-works-when-it-comes-passwords-080410/74292/