Top 25 Most Common Passwords List for 2012

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Chris Dougherty
VirtualThreat Contributing Writer

 

Have you ever wondered why so many people are easy targets for hackers?  The top reason is due to the use of weak, common passwords.

According to SplashData, a California password management company, the word ‘password’ is the #1 most common password on the “Worst Passwords of 2012” list.

The #2 position for most common password of 2012 is “123456”, followed by “12345678” for a close third.  SplashData said “The top three passwords remain unchanged from last year’s list.”

New entries to the list of worst passwords include the words “jesus”, “welcome”, “mustang””, “ninja” and “password1”.

“It just takes a few extra moments to make a password better,” said Morgan Slain, SplashData CEO.  “If you get started now and make it a resolution to keep it up, your life online will be safer and more secure in 2013.”

 

Top 25 Worst Passwords of 2012
(list shows current ranking and changes from the 2011 list):

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)

 

SplashData said that the list of worst passwords is compiled using data containing millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers.  The company also said that anyone using a password on the Top 25 list should change their password immediately.

Using the 15 suggestions in our recent VirtualThreat article, Top 15 Tips to Create Strong Passwords, you should create a very strong, unique password for every site that you visit on the Internet.

Once you have created your password you should store it on an encrypted USB drive.  This is the single best way to limit your exposure to online account takeovers and hackers.