Worst passwords of 2018 includes familiar howlers…and some new ones
December 24, 2018
Despite high-profile breaches and widespread concerns about identity theft, many computer users still employ easy-to-crack passwords that put their data – and that of others – at risk. The eighth annual list of Worst Passwords of the Year, compiled by the security software firm SplashData, was released earlier this month, with the notoriously bad password choices “123456” and “password” taking 1st and 2nd spot, respectively.
New to this year’s list: “donald,” making its debut appearance at #23. Experts say choosing a famous person’s name won’t make network security great again.
“Sorry, Mr. President, but this is not fake news – using your name or any common name as a password is a dangerous decision,” said Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData, in a statement. “Hackers have great success using celebrity names, terms from pop culture and sports, and simple keyboard patterns to break into accounts online because they know so many people are using those easy-to- remember combinations.”
Each year, SplashData evaluates more than 5 million leaked passwords, mostly from computers in North America and Western Europe, in order to determine which passwords were most commonly used during the year. The company estimates that at least 10% of all computer users have chosen one of the 25 worst passwords at one time or another, and that close to 3% have used the champion of bad passwords, 123456.
“Our hope by publishing this list each year is to convince people to take steps to protect themselves online,” says Slain. “It’s a real head-scratcher that with all the risks known, and with so many highly publicized hacks such as Marriott and the National Republican Congressional Committee, that people continue putting themselves at such risk year-after-year.”
Below are the 25 worst passwords of 2018, as compiled by SplashData.
1 123456
2 password
3 123456789
4 12345678
5 12345
6 111111
7 1234567
8 sunshine
9 qwerty
10 iloveyou
11 princess
12 admin
13 welcome
14 666666
15 abc123
16 football
17 123123
18 monkey
19 654321
20 !@#$%^&*
21 charlie
22 aa123456
23 donald
24 password1
25 qwerty123