One of the best defenses against hacking is a unique password, but many aren't heeding the call. Indeed, “123456” and “password” continue to rank as the most-leaked passwords, according to SplashData, a password management firm. “Starwars,” “monkey,” and “iloveyou” are new to the list this year, which is based on millions of stolen logins made public in the past year.
“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,” says Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData. The company advises anyone who recognizes a password on the list below to change it immediately.
- 123456 (ranked number one last year)
- Password (also unchanged in ranking)
- 12345678
- qwerty
- 12345
- 123456789
- letmein
- 1234567
- football
- iloveyou
- admin
- welcome
- monkey (new to the list)
- login
- abc123
- starwars (new to the list)
- 123123 (new to the list)
- dragon
- passw0rd
- master
- hello (new to the list)
- freedom (new to the list)
- whatever (new to the list)
- qazwsx (new to the list)
- trustno1 (new to the list)
Source: “The 25 Most Popular Passwords of 2017: You Sweet, Misguided Fools,” Gizmodo (Dec. 19, 2017)
