That dreaded message that pops up at work or at home: “Your password has expired.”
Coming up with new secure passwords every few months is challenging.
But don’t rush. You can do better than “123456.”
SplashData, a leading provider of password management applications for more than 15 years, released in January its annual Worst Passwords list for 2015. The fifth annual report is compiled from more than 2 million leaked passwords during the year.
Topping the list at No. 1 and No. 2 — for the second straight year — are “123456” and “password.”
Here is the full list:
- 123456 (unchanged from 2014)
- password (unchanged)
- 12345678 (Up 1)
- qwerty (Up 1)
- 12345 (Down 2)
- 123456789 (Unchanged)
- football (Up 3)
- 1234 (Down 1)
- 1234567 (Up 2)
- baseball (Down 2)
- welcome (New)
- 1234567890 (New)
- abc123 (Up 1)
- 111111 (Up 1)
- 1qaz2wsx (New)
- dragon (Down 7)
- master (Up 2)
- monkey (Down 6)
- letmein (Down 6)
- login (New)
- princess (New)
- qwertyuiop (New)
- solo (New)
- passw0rd (New)
- starwars (New)
Do you see your password on this list? SplashData offers three simple ways to improve your future passwords:
- Use a password manager such as SplashID to organize and protect passwords, generate random passwords, and automatically log into websites.
- Avoid using the same password over and over again on different websites.
- Use passwords or passphrases of twelve characters or more with mixed types of characters.
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