A typical prompt for a PIN code, email addresses have been darkened. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

Thursday morning, a tweet from hacker group @LulzSec--recently in the news for their attack on the US Senate website--claimed that they published 62,000 email/password combinations, allowing access to multiple online accounts including World of Warcraft, PayPal and Gmail.

"And as always, LulzSec delivers: http://t.co/yQlcu5x 62,000+ emails/passwords just for you. Enjoy," the Tweet said--the link since disabled.

With news of several prominant websites being hack still looming in the air, one app developer brought the concerns closer to home.

Daniel Amitay is no slouch when it comes to security. Amitay's iPhone application, Big Brother Security, was developed to take pictures of unauthorized users of the mobile device. But, apart from the application itself, Amitay shared on his blog recently that the four digit personal security codes of iPhone users may not be as secure as it may seem. 

From Amitay's Blog: 

In my last update to Big Brother Camera Security (Free), I added some code to record common user passcodes (completely anonymous, of course). Because Big Brother’s passcode setup screen and lock screen are nearly identical to those of the actual iPhone passcode lock, I figured that the collected information would closely correlate with actual iPhone passcodes.

These records show that users typically follow common patterns when creating passcodes, such as 1234, 0000, 2580, 1111, and more. Amitay, says with a 15% success rate, approximately 1 in 7 iPhones would easily unlock. 

With odds so high, the question lingers, "How do I secure my accounts?" Here are some tips: 

1. Don't use the same password for everything

This goes without saying, but the more variety you have with your passwords, the tougher it will be for hackers and cyberthiefs to access your online data. Although having a unique password for each individual login can prove to be a challenge, having a different password for different types of website can provide more security than simply one password for all. In addition, use a variety of characters, symbols, and numbers in the password. Most websites require this to some extent. 

2. Create a "customized" password

Say you have a standard password, such as "bike," that you use for many different sites. You can take that password, and set it as the root for a unique password creator. For example, a password for Facebook could be "bikeFb" and a password for Twitter could be "bikeTwit," allowing for unique passwords for each site while maintaining a simplicity for memory. Effectively, creating a pattern for your passwords can add an extra layer of security. 

3. Use a password manager

By using a password manager, you can effectively eliminate the need for remembering all your different passwords by having software manage it for you. Many options for this exist, including online sync options and smartphone capabilities. Some examples of these sites are LastPass, which offers both a free and paid web-based option that allows for easy synchronization and automatic form filling. 

Another option for password management is 1Password, a paid solution which keeps a log of your passwords on your computer, and connects it to your browser. It also has a password generator that can generate secure and random passwords for websites. With Dropbox sync capabilities, and the mobile applications make it a great choice for users with multiple devices. 

Reach Ankit Tyagi here.

Follow him on Twitter @ankittya.