An unbelievable 10% of internet users keep their secrets safe on their phones, tablets and laptops with at least one of 25 terrible passwords, say industry experts.
And 3% of internet users hide behind the worst password of them all – the digits 123456.
Other easy to remember and even easier to hack passwords include characters, names and phrases from popular movies, football teams and for some reason, breeds of monkeys.
“Unfortunately, while Star Wars: The Last Jedi may be a fantastic addition to the Star Wars franchise, ‘starwars’ is a dangerous password to use,” said Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData, the company compiling the list.
“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.”
The top 25 useless passwords
If you use one or more of these passwords, change your access security straight away:
- 123456
- Password
- 12345678
- qwerty
- 12345
- 123456789
- letmein
- 1234567
- football
- iloveyou
- admin
- welcome
- monkey
- login
- abc123
- starwars
- 123123
- dragon
- passw0rd
- master
- hello
- freedom
- whatever
- qazwsx
- trustno1
The complete list of 100 must-never-use passwords has been published online by SplashData.
Patterns and phrases to avoid
“Passwords based on simple patterns on your keyboard remain popular despite how weak they are,” said Slain.
“Any password using numbers alone should be avoided, especially sequences. As more websites require stronger passwords or combinations of letters and numbers, longer keyboard patterns are becoming common passwords, and they are still not secure.”
The firm says users should avoid a sequence such as “qwertyuiop,” which is the top row of letters on a standard keyboard, or “1qaz2wsx” which comprises the first two ‘columns’ of numbers and letters on a keyboard.
They also suggest not using your birthday or birth year, baby names, swear words and phrases, hobbies, famous athletes, car brands, and film names as a password.
“As always, we hope that with more publicity about how risky it is to use weak passwords, more people will start taking simple steps to protect themselves by using stronger passwords and using different passwords for different websites,” said Slain.
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