Worst Passwords used in 2013

January 22, 2014

If you think your password is very secure, you will have to reconsider if it lies on this list.

A list compiled by SplashData and drawn from passwords posted online following major web service hacks, such as the major breach at Adobe, the company behind Photoshop highlights the risks consumers are still taking by choosing easy to remember rather than secure passwords.

The inability to continue to create and remember more and more unique log-ins as the number of web services they use proliferate, but that is still no excuse for using ‘qwerty’ (the fourth most common password) or ‘abc123′ (number five) for protecting their most personal digital information.

Despite the ever growing sophistication of hackers, many companies are not doing enough to force their users into using stronger passwords that feature a mix of characters, numbers and symbols.

“Another interesting aspect of this year’s list is that more short numerical passwords showed up even though websites are starting to enforce stronger password policies,” said Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData.

If sites were enforcing stricter password rules then it wouldn’t be possible to set guessable passwords like ‘1234′ (number 16), ‘12345′ (at 20) or ‘000000′ (number 25) as log-ins.

SplashData advises using passwords with eight or more characters that contain a mix of upper and lower case characters and numbers as well as letters and trying to make it as random or seemingly random as possible.

Other steps users can take include activating two-factor authentication if a site supports it and to ensure that if you must reuse a password never choose the one for your email account or online banking services.

The list of the 25 most common passwords in full