Some online passwords are clearly as easy as '1,2,3...' for malicious hackers to guess.
The National Cyber Security Centre has pulled together a list of the most common and hacked passwords, as it wants to drive home the message that people should never risk using easy to guess codes. The list was compiled after Have I Been Pwned published breached usernames and passwords. The website allows internet users to check if their own data has been compromised online.
Unsurprisingly, using numbers in their order is a bad idea. The most used passwords are '123456' (23.2million) and '123456789' (7.7million). Don't just type in the first letters you see, either, as 'qwerty' - the first five letters on a keyboard - was the third most common, while 'password' was in fourth.
Names, fictional characters, football teams and musicians were also extremely popular. If you're using any of these passwords, or any similar combinations, consider changing them to something more secure and protect your data.
The passwords below are listed as written, in order of uses with the number of users in brackets.
The most common and easy to hack online passwords
Most used passwords:
- 123456 (23.2million)
- 123456789 (7.7million)
- qwerty (3.8million)
- password (3.6million)
- 1111111 (3.1million)
Names:
- Ashley (432, 276)
- Michael (425, 291)
- Daniel (368, 227)
- Jessica (324, 125)
- Charlie (308, 939)
Fictional characters:
- superman (333,139)
- naruto (242,749)
- tigger (237,290)
- pokemon (226,947)
- batman (203,116)
Premier League football teams:
- liverpool (280,723)
- chelsea (216,677)
-arsenal (179,095)
- manutd (59,440)
- everton (46,619)
Musicians:
- blink182 (285,706)
- 50cent (191,153)
- eminem (167,983)
- metallica (140,841)
- slipknot (140,833)
The list was made in April after breached usernames and passwords were published on the Have I Been Pwned website - which allows internet users to check if their personal data has been compromised by data breaches.
