Star Wars and the 24 Worst Passwords of 2017
Do you know those banal movie scenes where someone breaks the password of their boss, girlfriend, or enemy while looking around a room and making two assumptions? In real life, this would work more often than it should. Check out this list of the 25 most used and therefore most cracked passwords in 2017.
SplashData, the creators of the password managers SplashID , TeamsID and Gpass , have compiled a list of over 5 million passwords leaked from data breaches this year. They estimate that nearly 10% of computer users have used at least one of them. They recommend that you create longer, less obvious passwords, don’t reuse them, and get a password manager. Which we also recommend!
“Hackers use common terms from pop culture and sports to hack online accounts,” says SplashData CEO Morgan Slane, “because they know a lot of people use those catchy words.”
So don’t make your password with Star Wars, Twin Peaks, or any piece of popular culture. (I use a couple of passwords based on an old favorite book, but they have nothing to do with the title and contain special characters.) In general – and I can’t say enough – you should use a password manager and let it generate long passwords that hard to guess.
The 25 most popular passwords of 2017
- 123456
- password
- 12345678
- qwerty
- 12345
- 123456789
- let me in
- 1234567
- football
- I love you
- admin
- welcome
- monkey
- log in
- abc123
- star Wars
- 123123
- The Dragon
- password
- owner
- Hey
- Liberty
- whatever
- qazwsx
- Trustno1
SplashData lists the 100 most used PDF passwords on its site.
Even a strong password can be cracked if the service you use it on has poor security. This is how we can calculate the most common passwords in the first place. But a weak password can be hacked without any breach, and it leaves you vulnerable to the most serious amateur hackers like pranksters, ex-avengers, or anyone you have pissed off on Facebook. Truly Trustno1.