A study was recently set up to test how hackers access vulnerable computers. In the study, four Linux computers were set up with weak security and connected to the Internet .

“Our data provide quantifiable evidence that attacks are happening all the time to computers with Internet connections,” study author Michel Cukier of the University of Maryland said. “The computers in our study were attacked, on average, 2,244 times a day.”

“Most of these attacks employ automated scripts that indiscriminately seek out thousands of computers at a time, looking for vulnerabilities,” Cukier told LiveScience.

The hackers used a type of software called a “dictionary script” that runs through lists of common usernames and passwords to break into the computer. Hint: Don’t make any of these your password - “root,” “admin,” “test,” “guest,” and “user.”

A study was recently set up to test how hackers access vulnerable computers. In the study, four Linux computers were set up with weak security and connected to the Internet .

“Our data provide quantifiable evidence that attacks are happening all the time to computers with Internet connections,” study author Michel Cukier of the University of Maryland said. “The computers in our study were attacked, on average, 2,244 times a day.”

“Most of these attacks employ automated scripts that indiscriminately seek out thousands of computers at a time, looking for vulnerabilities,” Cukier told LiveScience.

The hackers used a type of software called a “dictionary script” that runs through lists of common usernames and passwords to break into the computer. Hint: Don’t make any of these your password - “root,” “admin,” “test,” “guest,” and “user.”