One of the most frustrating aspects of security is that the basics get neglected. No matter how many times you remind people not to use basic passwords, people just keep on choosing obvious options — as a list of the most popular passwords of 2015 proves.
Picture: Getty Images/Kristian Dowling
SplashData compiled the list based on passwords leaked online, and combed through 3.3 million of them. While it’s depressing that password leaks are so common, if people are stupid enough to use “password” or “123456” as their password, losing personal information is surely only a matter of time.
This is the full top 25:
- 123456
- password
- 12345
- 12345678
- qwerty
- 123456789
- 1234
- baseball
- dragon
- football
- 1234567
- monkey
- letmein
- abc123
- 111111
- mustang
- access
- shadow
- master
- michael
- superman
- 696969
- 123123
- batman
- trustno1
Given the wide range of password managers out there, there really is no excuse for using these obvious options. We can be better than this, folks.
Also: why is “michael” such a popular choice?
SplashData [via Gizmodo]
<.ol>
I think you’ve mistyped the end tag, there 🙂
D’oh! again. Thanks for the spot, fixed now.
Hey, I got the same code on my luggage.