The results are in!
Every, year SplashData reveals the most popular passwords we were using in 2018. Popularity isn’t a good thing this time, though – the more popular it is, the more likely it is that your account could be hacked into. SplashData estimates that at least 10% of people have used at least one of the top 25 passwords on at least one account, making those accounts extremely vulnerable.
5 of the top 10 passwords are simply a string of numbers, in order. Top of the chart is ‘123456’, followed by ‘password’, which have been the top 2 for 5 years running. Many of the passwords on the list are old favourites, moving just a few places up or down, but there are also some strange new choices such as ‘111111’ which comes in at number 6 on the list, ‘sunshine’ at 8 and ‘princess’ at 11. Trends in the news are also sparking new popular passwords to shoot up the chart – ‘donald’ for example is another new entry at number 23.
Here’s what you can do to protect your accounts:
- Check the full list of SplashData’s bad passwords here. If yours shows up…change it!
- Even if yours isn’t on the list, if it’s a close variation…still change it!
- Pick a random, secure password that isn’t on this list and isn’t linked to your personal data – no birthdays, pet names, anniversaries, strings of numbers or letters in order, etc.
- Consider adding a layer of protection such as 2 factor authentication
