Top 25 Most Popular Passwords of 2017

Each year, researchers from SplashData revealed the worst passwords of 2017, based on the over 5 million stolen login credentials made public over the year.  Despite the countless warnings from cybersecurity experts, people continue to choose weak, easily guessable passwords to protect their most precious information. Case in point, the top two most popular phrases were yet again ‘123456’ and ‘password.’

The list features several other ineffective passwords that have long-remained on the list.  This includes ‘qwerty’ in fourth place, ‘admin,’ in 11^th, and of course ‘login’, in 14^th.  However, we did see some new entries on SplashData’s annual list, like ‘starwars,’ ‘monkey,’ ‘iloveyou,’ ‘whatever,’ ‘freedom,’ and ironically ‘trustno1,’ to name a few.

‘Unfortunately, while the newest episode may be a fantastic addition to the Star Wars franchise, ‘starwars’ is a dangerous password to use,’ said Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData.  ‘Hackers are using common terms from pop culture and sports to break into accounts online because they know many people are using those easy-to-remember words.’

SplashData hopes this list will encourage people to take better safety precautions online.  There are several themes across the Worst Passwords list, including first names, car brands, and hobbies.

Best Practice for Passwords

A strong password should be long.  The enemy isn’t some guy in a ski mask trying to guess your password one attempt at a time.  It’s a program that automatically runs through massive databases of common passwords or random combinations of characters. It is also highly recommended to avoid regular words as many hackers will use “dictionary attacks”, it’s best to add capital letters, special characters, and numbers.  Other tips include:

Source: http://splashdata.com/index.htm