This article excerpt, written by Alex Hern, originally appeared here: http://ow.ly/XjOLu
Password management firm SplashData has compiled more than 2m passwords leaked over the course of 2015, to find the 25 worst passwords – those used by the most people at the same time.
Topping the list for yet another year is the gold standard of awful passwords, 123456, while hot on its heels is perhaps the only password worse still: password. Rounding out the top 10 passwords are five further variations on a theme (12345678, 12345, 123456789, 1234 and 1234567), as well as one from the next row of keys on the keyboard (qwerty) and two from spectacularly unimaginative people with hobbies (“football” and “baseball”).
Of course, there will always be some passwords which are the most used passwords. But let this be a lesson to you: if your password appears on this list, you should probably change it, now.
SplashData’s advice to users who find out that their passwords are sub-par is simple enough: use long passwords, which are different for every website, and – most importantly – don’t limit yourself to passwords you can remember. Instead, use a password manager, such as LastPass, 1Password, or SplashData’s own SplashID, to store the passwords securely.
The 25 most-used passwords of 2015: (As compared to 2014)
1) 123456 (unchanged)
2) password (unchanged)
3) 12345678 (up 1)
4) qwerty (up 1)
5) 12345 (down 2)
6) 123456789 (unchanged)
7) football (up 3)
8) 1234 (down 1)
9) 1234567 (up 2)
10) baseball (down 2)
11) welcome (new)
12) 1234567890 (new)
13) abc123 (up 1)
14) 111111 (up 1)
15) 1qaz2wsx (new)
16) dragon (down 7)
17) master (up 2)
18) monkey (down 6)
19) letmein (down 6)
20) login (new)
21) princess (new)
22) qwertyuiop (new)
23) solo (new)
24) passw0rd (new)
25) starwars (new)
