2015’s 25 Worst Passwords
SplashData has announced the worst passwords of 2015. Did you make the list?
We can all agree that passwords are important. They protect the data we want to keep away from prying eyes. Remembering passwords is another story; it’s not easy. Many of us fall into the habit of creating easily remembered but bad passwords that we use over and over again for many websites.
It’s easy to understand, it seems like every website we visit requires us to log in, even if there really isn’t any sensitive information to protect. For your music streaming and social media platforms we will forgive your terrible password, but you should consider the ramifications of your Facebook profile getting into the wrong hands. When actual personal information is at stake, though, we all wish we had the perfect 25 character password memorized. Sadly this isn’t the case.
SplashData released their “Worst Passwords List” for 2015 and the results will hopefully shock you. If you see your password anywhere on this list, please be sure to read to the bottom for helpful password hints.
Worst Passwords List for 2015:
- 123456
- password
- 12345678
- qwerty
- 12345
- 123456789
- football
- 1234
- 1234567
- baseball
- welcome
- 1234567890
- abc123
- 111111
- 1qaz2wsx
- dragon
- master
- monkey
- letmein
- login
- princess
- qwertyuiop
- solo
- passw0rd
- starwars
Does this surprise you? Passwords like the above are obscenely easy to crack leaving your valuable information open to hackers, spammers and identity thieves. Midphase takes security very seriously, going as far as to insist that our clients use a two-factor authentication personal identification number (PIN) to make any changes to a hosting account.
To be sure that your information is kept safe, we recommend taking the following steps:
- Change your passwords every six months.
02. Create passwords that are unique phrases and that are as long as the password allows. For example: TheWhiteHorseSaysMoo is better than horse1234.
- Use a password manager like LastPass to keep track of all of your passwords if you feel you might forget them.
- Take advantage of password generators, like the ones featured in LastPass and other password managers, for sensitive information like bank account numbers or anywhere your social security number appears.
- Use two-factor authentication whenever possible.
06. Keep security in mind whenever opening email, giving out personal information or shopping online. Look for an SSL certificate (a green padlock in the URL line) before making purchases or divulging information.
Learn more about keeping your information safe at Midphase.com