Worst passwords of 2017 revealed
Weak, predictable passwords such as ‘passw0rd’ and ‘letmein’ have become a long-running joke in the realm of cyber security.
But it seems they’re still being used to protect many online accounts after the worst passwords of 2017 were revealed.
Research published by SplashData listed what are considered to be the 100 flimsiest passwords currently in use around the world.
Cyber security experts constantly advise internet users to regularly update the passwords for their most valuable accounts with a unique combination of letters, numbers and symbols in a bid to hinder hackers’ efforts.
However, many of the usual - and useless - suspects like ‘qwerty’ and ‘123456789’ remain in action, with ‘123456’ topping the list for the second year running.
It has become increasingly common for reams of passwords to leak onto the internet and security researchers have used this data to shine a light on the poor choices made by internet users when choosing a password.
Researchers looked at more than five million passwords leaked by hackers during 2017 - although many more surfaced online over the course of the year - and these were deemed to be the worst:
1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. 12345
6. 123456789
7. letmein
8. 1234567
9. football
10. iloveyou
11. admin
12. welcome
13. monkey
14. login
15. abc123
16. starwars
17. 123123
18. dragon
19. passw0rd
20. master
21. hello
22. freedom
23. whatever
24. qazwsx
25. trustno1
26. 654321
27. jordan23
28. harley
29. password1
30. 1234