Posted by: TAZ Networks on December 14, 2018 at 9:51 am
If this image reminds your of your password, sunshine, you might have one of the official worst passwords of 2018.
For IT people or anyone dealing with computer network security, it’s one of the most fun times of the year. It’s that time when TeamsID releases their annual “50 Worst Passwords” list.
Now, we’re not here to shame anyone. But if we’re doing our jobs, we’re helping you set smart, strong passwords to keep your data secure. So, let’s see how we did. Grab the popcorn and buckle up, but be warned: this could be a rude awakening for some.
Bringing out the top 10, we see some perennial favorites. Strings of numbers (123456 is #1 this year), strings of letters (qwerty), sunshine, and iloveyou. And right there in the number two spot is our favorite: password. Simple, descriptive, and totally insecure.
Numbers 11-20 brings in a bunch of real-word passwords: princess, admin, welcome, football, and monkey (why???). Number 20 might look like it’s illustrating the frustration many feel when trying to set a password — !@#$%^&* — until you realize it’s just the top keyboard row plus the shift key.
Spot number 21 starts the “real human first names” and there are a lot of them this year. Here are all the first names in the top 100 worst passwords: Charlie, Donald, Bailey, Buster, Daniel, Hannah, Thomas, Summer, George, Harley, Jessica, Ginger, Jordan, Joshua, Pepper (?), Sophie, Robert, Matthew, Andrew, Andrea, Nicole, Hunter, Amanda, Jennifer, Chelsea, Ashley, and William. (Whew.) That’s not even counting all the names that are probably pet names like Bandit and Killer. Seriously, if you’re stumped naming a baby or a pet, you might want to check out the full list.
(Fun side note: Microsoft Word marks several of those as spelled incorrectly. Sorry to all the Matthews, Andreas, and Jennifers out there. Microsoft doesn’t know you.)
Pop culture time! Some of the names might also be pop culture references, but solo at #45, starwars at #60, and trustno1 at #79 definitely are. Tigger came in at #48, which is just plain adorable.
Cars and sports include the aforementioned football, but also baseball, ferrari, corvette, mercedes (which could also be a name), hockey, and lakers.
Hey, maverick at #67 – sorry, but you’re not. People’s favorite password foods? Banana and cheese.
So, it’s fun to see what people use as bad passwords, but seriously, please learn to set strong passwords, at least for your more-confidential accounts such as banking and email. Anything to do with work should also have a strong password. If you need to, use a password manager.
If you’re a business owner or manager and need assistance with writing up employee policies or setting your software to force strong passwords, contact us today about your network security.
And don’t be on the list for 2019!