Source: www.businessinsider.com
People are dreadful at picking passwords.
The world's most popular password is the depressingly easy-to-guess 123456, according to an analysis by security firm Keeper of 10 million leaked passwords last year. We first read about the report from The Register.
There were several major data breaches in 2016 in which people's login details were leaked online. Some were new — like the hack of adult dating site AdultFriendFinder. In other cases, like LinkedIn, the breach happened years ago, but the data only recently surfaced online.
Both instances provided researchers with an unparalleled look at the security habits of millions of people — it's not pretty.
The second most-used password was 123456789, according to Keeper, followed by the predictable qwerty. Then came 12345678, and in fifth place was the obvious 111111.
"Looking at the list of 2016’s most common passwords, we couldn’t stop shaking our heads," the researchers wrote in a blog post. "Four of the top 10 passwords on the list — and seven of the top 15 — are six characters or shorter. This is stunning in light of the fact that, as we’ve reported, today’s brute-force cracking software and hardware can unscramble those passwords in seconds. Website operators that permit such flimsy protection are either reckless or lazy."