We’re a simple bunch.
Password management provider SplashData has today published its annual list of “Worst Passwords of the Year” using data from up to 5 million leaked passwords from users in North America and Western Europe.
Repeat offenders included “123456” and “Password,” respectively taking first and second place, with 12345678 taking the coveted third place. The innocuous ”letmein” takes seventh, while the unassuming ”football” brings up the rear at number nine.
Star Wars and Game of Thrones fans should be very happy (or, very worried) as for the first time on the list, the password “starwars” rang in at number 16, and “dragon” jumped up in ranks to swing in at number 18.
Here’s are the first 25 of 2017’s worst passwords:
- 123456
- Password
- 12345678
- qwerty
- 12345
- 123456789
- letmein
- 1234567
- football
- iloveyou
- admin
- welcome
- monkey
- login
- abc123
- starwars
- 123123
- dragon
- passw0rd
- master
- hello
- freedom
- whatever
- qazwsx
- trustno1
Well, that has us worried.
For those of you wondering how you could create a stronger and less hacker-friendly password, according to SplashData, the key is to use at least 12 characters with a combination of upper and lowercase letters and characters.
And the best piece of advice? Switch up passwords for various websites, as time consuming as it may seem.
The full list can be found here.
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