In the technological world that we live in today forgetting your Facebook, email password or Instagram password can spell disaster. To prevent such an outcome people create passwords that are easy to remember and quick to the recall. But in our fear are we choosing passwords that leave us open to hacks. Cyber security journalist Kate O'Flaherty writes an article in Forbes magazine listing the most used passwords that also tend to be the most hacked.
Kate’s findings also match the latest ‘bad passwords’ report by the UK’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC). If your password is on the list be quick and change it and next time perhaps try to be a bit more original.
The 20 most used passwords
123456 (23.2m)
123456789 (7.7m)
qwerty (3.8m)
password (3.6m)
1111111 (3.1m)
12345678 (2.9m)
abc123 (2.8m)
1234567 (2.5m)
password1 (2.4m)
12345 (2.3m)
1234567890 (2.2m)
123123 (2.2 m)
000000 (1.9m)
Iloveyou (1.6m)
1234 (1.3m)
1q2w3e4r5t (1.2m)
Qwertyuiop (1.1m)
123 (1.02m)
Monkey (980, 209)
Dragon (968,625)
Top 5 names
ashley (432,276)
michael (425,291)
daniel (368,227)
jessica (324,125)
charlie (308,939)
Top 5 football teams
liverpool (280,723)
chelsea (216,677)
arsenal (179,095)
manutd (59,440)
everton (46,619)
Top 5 musicians
blink182 (285,706)
50cent (191,153)
eminem (167,983)
metallica (140,841)
slipknot (140,833)
Top five fictional characters
superman (333,139)
naruto (242,749)
tigger (237,290)
pokemon (226,947)
batman (203,116)
Kate’s findings also match the latest ‘bad passwords’ report by the UK’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC). If your password is on the list be quick and change it and next time perhaps try to be a bit more original.
The 20 most used passwords
123456 (23.2m)
123456789 (7.7m)
qwerty (3.8m)
password (3.6m)
1111111 (3.1m)
12345678 (2.9m)
abc123 (2.8m)
1234567 (2.5m)
password1 (2.4m)
12345 (2.3m)
1234567890 (2.2m)
123123 (2.2 m)
000000 (1.9m)
Iloveyou (1.6m)
1234 (1.3m)
1q2w3e4r5t (1.2m)
Qwertyuiop (1.1m)
123 (1.02m)
Monkey (980, 209)
Dragon (968,625)
Top 5 names
ashley (432,276)
michael (425,291)
daniel (368,227)
jessica (324,125)
charlie (308,939)
Top 5 football teams
liverpool (280,723)
chelsea (216,677)
arsenal (179,095)
manutd (59,440)
everton (46,619)
Top 5 musicians
blink182 (285,706)
50cent (191,153)
eminem (167,983)
metallica (140,841)
slipknot (140,833)
Top five fictional characters
superman (333,139)
naruto (242,749)
tigger (237,290)
pokemon (226,947)
batman (203,116)