"Password" Ranks First in Worst Password List of 2012

[JonB]

"Password" Ranks First in Worst Password List of 2012

The new list of most popular passwords includes some old favorites and some surprising newcomers.

SplashData, a company specializing in security and productivity applications, has again released its annual list of the most popular passwords in the world. Each year, SplashData compiles the list from millions of passwords posted online by hackers. The purpose of the list is to help people see how their password is vulnerable, and then choose a safer one. Alongside the data, the company released a few simple tips for making a more secure password. Raising awareness is really part of the solution to online security, and SplashData is doing their part.

The purpose of the list is plain: to get you to call your parents and loved ones. It's not uncommon for the more tech-inclined to have to help our families with problems brought on by terrible password choices. By sharing this list with them you'll save yourself the inevitable heartache of helping a family member who's suddenly having all manner of financial and computer troubles.

Without further ado, The Worst Passwords of 2012, along with their change in rank from last year:
1. password (Unchanged)
2. 123456 (Unchanged)
3. 12345678 (Unchanged)
4. abc123 (Up 1)
5. qwerty (Down 1)
6. monkey (Unchanged)
7. letmein (Up 1)
8. dragon (Up 2)
9. 111111 (Up 3)
10. baseball (Up 1)
11. iloveyou (Up 2)
12. trustno1 (Down 3)
13. 1234567 (Down 6)
14. sunshine (Up 1)
15. master (Down 1)
16. 123123 (Up 4)
17. welcome (New)
18. shadow (Up 1)
19. ashley (Down 3)
20. football (Up 5)
21. jesus (New)
22. michael (Up 2)
23. ninja (New)
24. mustang (New)
25. password1 (New)

I really just want you all to celebrate with me: "Dragon" gained two points this year. I expect we have Skyrim to thank for that.

Source: PRWeb [http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/10/prweb10046001.htm]


Permalink

 

[Cowabungaa]

What? No room for "guest" in this list?

 

[schmulki]

phew, looks like I'm still safe with toomanysecrets. Yay being old enough to get a reference from before a lot of hackers were born!

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Having Ashley and Michael on there surprises me. Are they just really common names for people?

Luckily my password isn't on that list.

 

[Legion]

I strongly suspect that most people who claim to have had any account "hacked" have a password as one of those top three.

 

[cahtush]

Some of theses seems a bit random, like ashley.
Why would so many people choose those?

Also something related:

Spoiler

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

12. trustno1 (Down 3)

Not even yourself I'd say going on that password selection

HAHA people are so silly. But at least it looks like my password 'opensesame' is safe as it did not make the list. Oh wait a minute... bugger.

 

[lacktheknack]

"trustno1"

The irony is kind of palpable.

I'm proud to say that my password is actually unique. I guarantee no one has it.

30 characters FTW?

 

[mad825]

Wait, what? No "rosebud"? It's secure then I guess.

 

[DrStrangelove]

I was expecting "Hunter2" and was disappointed. For shame internets.

 

[MasterProcrastinator]

How is it that '123456' and '12345678' are in 2nd and 3rd positions respectively, whilst '1234567' lags behind in 13th? 13th!

 

[Thaluikhain]

"trustno1"

The irony is kind of palpable.

I'm proud to say that my password is actually unique. I guarantee no one has it.

30 characters FTW?

Hmmmm..."my password is actually unique" happens to be 30 characters long...

 

[MrPhyntch]

How is it that '123456' and '12345678' are in 2nd and 3rd positions respectively, whilst '1234567' lags behind in 13th? 13th!

Most passwords require either 6 or 8 characters, so people who will take the easy way out with numbers will stop at the minimum. DOesn't surprise me one bit.

Related: My WPA2 key is 1234567890. Not very secure, but it keeps non-savvy neighbors off my network, and living in an out-of-the-way rural area, I'm not too worried about people hacking my network.

 

[Scrythe]

Wait a second. I saw a list just over a year ago that showed both "God" and "pussy" somewhere in the top 10.

...and I can't like it now, since the domain has died.

 

[Weresquirrel]

I'm glad to say none of those are passwords I use. Although, I do re-use some of my passwords a bit too often. I have about 6-7 passwords I use for most things. I tend to shake up my usernames more than my passwords.

 

[Irridium]

123456? That's the same password I have on my luggage!

 

[cerebus23]

michael i can sorta see michael jordan, michael the archangel, but ashley is just sorta out of left field to me, cannot imagine where that comes from beating jesus, who apparently is new on the list, and is down 3 i guess from the last list.

wonder if there is some glorious female named ashley that everyone is so in love with hey name all their pw after this person. Or there is going to be a staggering number of girls growing up with the name ashley since using your daughters/childs name for a pw is pretty common.

But all my life i cannot even recall meeting many ashleys.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Wow, Ashley's a popular girl. I bet she's leading most of them on, though.

Also, disappointment abound for everyone who thought they were being clever by putting a "1" at the end of "password" to make it harder to guess.

 

[LostintheWick]

I get why most of those are top passwords... but Monkey??? THAT is number 6?! WTF?
Is this not weird to anybody else? I mean... think about it.