Passwords are so annoying, right? You have to have a capital, and a letter, and a symbol… better just use 1234. WRONG. Here’s a list of the 50 worst passwords to use. Read it, and change yours now!
Passwords. Everyone’s got ‘em. And believe it or not, they are here to help you. A password requires something you know to access private information. Unfortunately, 2017 was the year of the bad passwords. Want to know how bad? If you randomly typed out the easiest 10 passwords you can think of, I can almost guarantee that every single one would be in the top 100.
Why are passwords so difficult to remember? Why are they so important? According to ScientificAmerican.com, familiar things can decay over time, and you might only remember the process and not the actual information. I can attest, because on a good day I can sit down and play “Postcards From Far Away” by Coldplay on the piano, but only if I play it perfectly. If I miss a note or pause, I can’t remember how to play the next part.
Passwords are the same way. If you type a password too many times, you might get used to the muscle memory of moving your fingers a certain way, and you might forget it. There are plenty of other reasons why you might forget a password, but that’s where password managers come into play.
Be aware: You are going to have to remember a password sometime in your life. Sorry.
Password managers are tools that encrypt your passwords to certain accounts, like Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, etc. Your web browser often has one built in,l so if you sign in to Chrome you can remember web passwords. There are other third parties like LastPass and Dashlane that can do the same thing, often with more feature, and can save more than just web passwords.
So. Now for the good stuff. Bad stuff, actually. Here are the top 50 worst passwords of 2017 according to SplashData, listed by the number of uses (most common at the top):
- 123456
- password
- 12345678
- qwerty
- 12345
- 123456789
- letmein
- 1234567
- football
- Iioveyou
- admin
- welcome
- monkey
- login
- abc123
- starwars
- 123123
- dragon
- passw0rd
- master
- hello
- freedom
- whatever
- qazwsx
- trustno1
- 654321
- jordan23
- harley
- password1
- 1234
- robert
- matthew
- jordan
- asshole
- daniel
- andrew
- dakers
- andrea
- buster
- joshua
- 1qaz2wsx
- 12341234
- ferrari
- cheese
- computer
- corvette
- blahblah
- george
- mercedes
- 121212
If you use any string of number in a sequence, change it. If you use just your name, change it. If you use your favorite car brand, or animal, or “password”, you better change it before you finish reading this article. Because I can promise you that these top 50 passwords are the first ones checked if a person doesn’t know you and tries to break in. If they do know you, they definitely have the upper hand.
Actually, studies have shown that it becomes easier to guess someone’s phone password with every attempt of watching someone type it in. It’s even easier if you use a pattern to unlock it. Our advice? Get rid of the pattern, and use a complex passcode of at least 6 letters for your phone. You can use your web browser or a password manager, but keep the password for that strong, and safe.
Strong passwords are links of numbers, letters, and symbols that arehard too guess. Not “password1”. More along the lines of “aGg7-4?itD”. That one may seem difficult to memorize, but it could save your data’s life someday. To learn more about protecting your data, check out Fibernet’s cyber security services, where we use a lot more than just strong passwords to keep your information safe.