25 most common passwords

‘Please create a secure password. ’ How many times a year do you read this and think I’ll stick to the password I use for every other site, and it won’t be a problem? You need to stop, especially if your password features on our list of the 25 most popular passwords. PasswordRandom.com has compiled a list of 10,000 of the most frequently used and guessed passwords.

Some of them may come as no surprise; if you use 12345 as your password, you may as well post on social media that you’re open to hacking. You wouldn’t put the cheapest lock on the front door of your house, so why do it for accounts that provide access to sensitive data?

Having trouble creating a secure password? Follow our perfect password guide to reduce your risk of being hacked. Everybody has information on their systems that hackers would want; don’t think you’re the odd one out.

Here is the list of 25 passwords in reverse order. They don’t consider capitalisation, but these passwords are unacceptable, regardless of the format. These have come from an American site, but you’ll soon see a pattern forming.

25-21

25) 1234567 

24) harley

23) superman

22) jordan

21) 2000

With the password Superman, you’d need more than a superhero to save your account if you have any of these passwords. These wouldn’t have been acceptable even in the year 2000!

20-16

20) 111111

19) jennifer

18) master

17) shadow

16) michael

You might be sat here thinking well my name isn’t Jennifer or Michael, I’ll be okay. Wrong. If you use your name as your password, you need to stop using a computer. If the hacker has any idea of the system, they’re on your name is one of the first guesses they’ll try. Your name with 123 added on at the end doesn’t count either.

15-11

15) mustang

14) abc123

13) 696969

12) monkey

11) letmein

We really are getting to the least creative passwords ever. abc123 is what you learn at a nursery. letmein will just let hackers into your accounts. The less said about 696969, the better.

10-6

10) football

9) baseball

8) pussy

7) dragon

6) 12345

Sports always seem to be a popular choice for passwords whether it be a sport in general or a team, stay away from these. 12345 is a classic example of a weak and lazy password.

5-1

5) qwerty

4) 1234

3) 12345678

2) 123456

1) password

Year on year, ‘password’ comes out on top of these rankings, quite simply, it’s ridiculous.

We hope this guide has alerted you to the most commonly used passwords online. If you use any of the 25 listed or similar passwords, change them immediately.

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