SplashData compiles over 5 million passwords, that have leaked online, from 2018. From that data, they are able to build a list of the top 25 most used passwords of 2018. The sad part? The top two passwords have been the same top two passwords for five years now. No one should ever use "123456" or "password" and yet millions of people do.
We will note that several of the top 25 passwords are repeats from previous years, though their use has varied from year to year. One upside to all this data? There are a few new passwords on the list.
Sorry, Mr. President, but this is not fake news – using your name or any common name as a password is a dangerous decision. Hackers have great success using celebrity names, terms from pop culture and sports, and simple keyboard patterns to break into accounts online because they know so many people are using those easy-to-remember combinations. Our hope by publishing this list each year is to convince people to take steps to protect themselves online,” Slain said. “It’s a real head-scratcher that with all the risks known, and with so many highly publicized hacks such as Marriott and the National Republican Congressional Committee, that people continue putting themselves at such risk year-after-year.
- Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData
This list is to help raise awareness for internet users on adapting better security measure, like stronger passwords. Strong passwords do not guarantee better online safety, but they do increase it. If you use a password that is on this list, you are just asking to be hacked.
1. 123456 - Unchanged 2. password - Unchanged 3. 123456789 - Up 3 from 2017 4. 12345678 - Down 1 from 2017 5. 12345 - Unchanged 6. 111111 - New for 2018 7. 1234567 - Up 1 from 2017 8. sunshine - New for 2018 9. qwerty - Down 5 from 2017 10. iloveyou - Unchanged 11. princess - New for 2018 12. admin - Down 1 from 2017 13. welcome - Down 1 from 2017 14. 666666 - New for 2018 15. abc123 - Unchanged 16. football - Down 7 from 2017 17. 123123 - Unchanged 18. monkey - Down 5 from 2017 19. 654321 - New for 2018 20. !@#$%^&* - New for 2018 21. charlie - New for 2018 22. aa123456 - New for 2018 23. donald - New for 2018 24. password1 - New for 2018 25. qwerty123 - New for 2018
