Ah passwords. With all the online services that require passwords (sometimes seemingly for no reason but that’s another story), it’s rare that we don’t run into those OH SO FRUSTRATING password rules that seem designed to make us forget a password the minute we picked it. You know the ones – this password must be at 8 characters, have a symbol, a number, a capital letter, a 4th Century roman rune, and a reference from the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Now don’t forget it because if you have to reset your password it can’t be even remotely similar to the last one. Sound familiar? Well, thanks to this list, now we know why these little rules exist.
So to all of you people out there that for the last 2 decades have completely ignored IT people banging their heads on the table as they find that once again, you used password as your password, we’re looking at you.
Top 20 worst passwords of 2015:
#1. 123456 – Really? REALLY? Unless this is a password protecting your middle name, why is this still number 1?
#2. password – So clever. I think the people using this one are hoping that hackers think: “Nah there’s no way ANYONE would EVER use password as their password. That’s just ridiculous.” Yes. Yes it is.
#3. 12345678 – See number 1.
#4. qwerty – Another downside of everyone using the same keyboard. That’s right, we ALL know.
#5. 12345 – Oh look they only want 5 characters! Yay!
#6. 123456789 – 9 characters? Wow, must be for nuclear armament.
#7. football – Coach says you’re benched for not even trying.
#8. 1234 – Yup. I can hear IT crying over their crashed server already.
#9. 1234567 – I bet this only had 6 characters, didn’t it? You sly dog.
#10. baseball – This password is as boring as the game.
#11. welcome – Oh that’s nice. A little friendly message for the hacker that is now in your account. Like putting out a welcome mat and a plate of cookies.
#12. 1234567890 – Can we at least have ONE that starts at 9 and works backwards? I mean that would show at least a tiny bit of originality.
#13. abc123 – Jackson Five anyone?
#14. 111111 – Obviously you resent the fact that anyone would bother putting a password on whatever account this is, because this is just a big ol’ middle finger to the password gods.
#15. 1qaz2wsx – Oh yes this is very clever until you try to log in on your smartphone.
#16. dragon – I just don’t even know what to say about this.
#17. master – As in Master Password? Hmhm. I’ve got you, fam.
#18. monkey – With so many animals to choose from, how do so many people land on monkey? Or did they actually let a monkey pick this password?
#19. letmein – You got it, Mr. Hacker. Welcome!
#20. login – I bet the username is user too. This truly is an unbreachable fortress.
If you found your name on this list, congratulations! You are the reason for all the annoying little password rules and all the successful hacks out there. Plus, you are keeping a whole raft of IT people crying and swearing, and 15 year old basement hackers creeping into places they just shouldn’t be.
Here’s a little help from our friends at XKCD on choosing a password that will actually work. http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_strength.png
Password on, my internet friends.
stealth