"Password" Ranks First in Worst Password List of 2012

JonB

Don't Take Crap from Life
Sep 16, 2012
1,157
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"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]


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schmulki

New member
Oct 10, 2012
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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

Unlucky for some
Dec 19, 2007
4,794
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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

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
7,190
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I strongly suspect that most people who claim to have had any account "hacked" have a password as one of those top three.
 

cahtush

New member
Jul 7, 2010
391
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Some of theses seems a bit random, like ashley.
Why would so many people choose those?

Also something related:
 

The Artificially Prolonged

Random Semi-Frequent Poster
Jul 15, 2008
2,755
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12. trustno1 (Down 3)
Not even yourself I'd say going on that password selection :p

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

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
19,316
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"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?
 

Thaluikhain

Elite Member
Legacy
Jan 16, 2010
18,580
3,538
118
lacktheknack said:
"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

New member
Nov 4, 2009
156
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MasterProcrastinator said:
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

Premium Gasoline
Jun 23, 2009
2,367
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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

New member
Aug 13, 2008
319
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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.
 

cerebus23

New member
May 16, 2010
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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

^ ^ v v < > < > B A
May 7, 2009
3,028
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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

New member
Sep 29, 2009
298
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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.