
Montane PS Staff
List of Most Hacked Passwords
Recently, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre released their list of the top 100,000 passwords known to cybercriminals and hackers.
Whilst there will be no real surprises to many, here is the top 25:
1. 123456
2. 123456789
3. qwerty
4. password
5. 111111
6. 12345678
7. abc123
8. 1234567
9. password1
10. 12345
11. 1234567890
12. 123123
13. 000000
14. iloveyou
15. 1234
16. 1q2w3e4r5t
17. qwertyuiop
18. 123
19. monkey
20. dragon
21. 123456a
22. 654321
23. 123321
24. 666666
25. 1qaz2wsx
The full list can be found here.
Of note, is that a breach analysis conducted by the NCSC found that 23.2 million victim accounts worldwide used 123456 as a password.
The top fictional characters used for passwords is:
1. superman
2. naruto
3. tigger
4. pokemon
5. batman
Top 5 musicians:
1. blink182
2. 50cent
3. eminem
4. metallica
5. slipknot
Interestingly, ashley, michael and daniel were the top 3 passwords that used people's names.
Passwords are used to identify who you are. They are the first line of defence to protect your information and log ins from cybercriminals; and should be a secret that only you know. Needless to say, strong passwords are essential in today's digitised world.
Passphrases are a recommended defence against hackers, and should be considered in place of passwords. A passphrase that is made up of at least four words, including at least 13 characters, for example 'cowjumpedoverthemoon'. In order to make it easy to remember, though still be unique, pick a meaningful passphrase.
However, if you need to use a password, it is important to remember that the longer it is, the stronger it is!
Finally, re-using passwords is fraught with danger - avoid this at all times.