‘123456’ Tops Yearly List of Most Common Passwords (Again)
You’d like to think that we humans are getting progressively better at using these computer things as the years pass. But a quick scan through 2015′s list of most commonly used passwords will smash and set fire to that bit of optimistic thinking.
For a fifth straight year, the secure phrases “123456” and “password” were the most-used and second-most-used passwords by Interneters in North America and Western Europe, according to SplashData’s annual “Worst Passwords” ranking.
The company, which develops password management software, uses aggregations of leaked passwords as sample sizes to determine the most popular security phrases in circulation. Though “123456” and “password” have been the most abundant among the millions of leaked passwords analyzed yearly by SplashData since 2011, security expert and author Mike Burkett (who’s collaborated with the company on its annual lists) has had the passphrases marked as No. 1 and 2 on his “Worst Passwords of All Time” list since 2005.
Other worst passwords on SplashData’s latest list were “qwerty,” “football,” “dragon,” and “111111.”
Read the entire 2015 ranking below:
Oy vey. (SplashData)
Scary, but at least we’re beginning to see some horribly insecure Star Wars passwords in the mix! (Next best thing to horribly insecure Spaceballs passwords.)
Seriously, though: If your password is on the list above, do yourself a favor and change it now. And if you can’t come up with a secure password on your own — something more complex than “monkey” — this 11-year-old girl will sell you one for two dollars.
Email me at danbean@yahoo-inc.com. Follow me on Twitter at danielwbean.
