Despite being repeatedly warned by experts to use strong phrases, people are still choosing to use “123456,” “password” and other obvious passwords for their online accounts, potentially opening them up to some serious repercussions.
Software company SplashData just released its annual list of the year’s worst passwords, and the two mentioned above top the list (followed at number three by “123456789”).
New on the list this year: “666666” (number 14), “princess” (number 11) and “Donald” (number 23).
“Sorry, Mr. President, but this is not fake news — using your name or any common name as a password is a dangerous decision,” SplashData CEO Morgan Slain said in a release. “Hackers have great success using celebrity names, terms from pop culture and sports, and simple keyboard patterns to break into accounts online because they know so many people are using those easy-to-remember combinations.”
SplashData examined over 5 million leaked passwords largely from North America and Western Europe to create its list. They think 10 percent of people have used at least one of the top 25 worst passwords.
Slain is puzzled that people continue to put themselves at risk, particularly since there have been so many publicized hacks over the past year. Average citizens aren’t the only ones making the mistake. Remember when Kanye West met with President Trump, and his iPhone password was revealed to be “000000”?
Don’t be Kanye.
SplashData has some advice for people who choose new passwords: 1) use 12 characters or more with mixed types of characters, 2) use a different password for each login so potential hackers won’t get access to more than one website, and 3) use a password manager to organize your passwords, generate random passwords, and automatically login to websites.
Check out the 25 worst passwords of 2018, and if you use any of them, change them ASAP!
1) 123456
2) password
3) 123456789
4) 12345678
5) 12345
6) 111111
7) 1234567
8) sunshine
9) qwerty
10) iloveyou
11) princess
12) admin
13) welcome
14) 666666
15) abc123
16) football
17) 123123
18) monkey
19) 654321
20) !@#$%^&*
21) charlie
22) aa123456
23) donald
24) password1
25) qwerty123
