Meaningless letters
A while back, I (with no formal IT qualifications) was called in to fix and secure a server / site that had been hacked. The site advertised the professional IT security services of someone boasting the following:
CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional)
AIISP (Founder-Member of Institute Information Security Professionals)
MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer)
CCSA (Checkpoint Certified Security Administrator)
CSSA (Certified SonicWALL Security Administrator)
CFSA (CyberGuard Firewall Security Administrator)
WCSP (WatchGuard Certified System Professional)
This well-qualified individual had left phpmyadmin in an obvious location with no mysql root password set. In addition it turned out that remote desktop was running (Windows server) and the Administrator password was his wife's maiden name - six letters long, all lower-case, and a dictionary word.