According to SplashData, a provider of password management applications, it is the most-used password of the year.
‘123456,’ and ‘12345678’ round out the top three.
“In a year with several high profile password hacking incidents at major sites including Yahoo, LinkedIn, eHarmony, and Last.fm, SplashData’s list of frequently used passwords shows that many people continue to put themselves at risk by using weak, easily guessable passwords,” reads a press release issued by SplashData.
The firm’s list of the ’25 Worst Passwords of the Year’ was assembled using information hackers have posted online as “stolen passwords.”
New to the worst password list this year are: ‘welcome, ‘ ‘jesus,’ ‘ninja,’ ‘mustang,’ and ‘password1.’
Here is a look at the list:
# Password Change from 2011
1 password Unchanged
2 123456 Unchanged
3 12345678 Unchanged
4 abc123 Up 1
5 qwerty
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
SplashData chief executive officer Morgan Slain says publishing the list is a way to make people aware of the risk they are taking in using weak passwords.
“Even though each year hacking tools get more sophisticated, thieves still tend to prefer easy targets,” says Slain. “Just a little bit more effort in choosing better passwords will go a long way toward making you safer online.”
SplashData offers the following tips for choosing more secure passwords:
- Use passwords of eight characters or more with mixed types of characters. One way to create longer, more secure passwords that are easy to remember is to use short words with spaces or other characters separating them. For example, “eat cake at 8!” or “car_park_city?”
- Avoid using the same username/password combination for multiple websites. Especially risky is using the same password for entertainment sites that you do for online email, social networking, and financial services. Use different passwords for each new website or service you sign up for.
- Having trouble remembering all those different passwords? Try using a password manager application that organizes and protects passwords and can automatically log you into websites. There are numerous applications available, but choose one with a strong track record of reliability and security like SplashID Safe, which has a 10 year history and over 1 million users. SplashID Safe has versions available for Windows and Mac as well as Smartphones and tablet devices.
Post from: SiteProNews
