The Worst Passwords of 2012

By now, we all certainly know how important it is to have a secure password. We've heard of a number of hacks by the hacktivist group Anonymous this year, and more people than ever are experiencing the horrific effects of total identity theft.

So it may come as a surprise that today, in an era of digitized information and online banking, so many people are still so careless when it comes to choosing a proper password.

SplashData released its list of the most common passwords this week. And as you can imagine, they're pretty bad.

The top three from last year are still the top three this year: password, 123456, and 12345678.

It's baffling why so many people still believe “password” provides enough protection for any password-protected account. And consecutive number sequences are always poor choices – it doesn't take much to crack that code.

Here is a list of the top ten for 2012:

1. password

2. 123456

3. 12345678

4. abc123

5. qwerty

6. monkey

7. letmein

8. dragon

9. 111111

10. baseball

Some other fun choices from the top 25 include “trustno1.” Interesting that someone with this mindset would choose the twelfth-most popular password.

“123123” is another good one, as is “master.”

New to the list this year is “welcome” – and with this password, plenty of hackers are. “Jesus” is another new one, along with “ninja” and “mustang.”

And while it might be fun to read through these horrendous password choices, there is a lot of danger in having such a poor password.

From Mashable:

“At this time of the year, people enjoy focusing on scary costumes, movies and decorations, but those who have been through it can tell you how terrifying it is to have your identity stolen because of a hacked password,” says Morgan Slain, SplashData CEO. “We're hoping that with more publicity about how risky it is to use weak passwords, more people will start taking simple steps to protect themselves by using stronger passwords and using different passwords for different websites.”

Nowadays, more personal information than ever is stored on the Internet, where anyone with a few good guesses can access it. How often have you received a bizarre spam Facebook message from a friend, or sent one out yourself without knowing it?

Now imagine if that were your bank account. Even worse, if you use the same password for Facebook and your bank account, it soon could be.

Is one of your passwords on the list? Are you guilty of using “password” or your birthday for every account? Now might be the time to make a few changes.

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