These days it seems like everything has a password, whether it's unlocking your phone or logging into a computer, online banking or something else, no doubt you will have come to the point where you're running out of ideas. However, don't be tempted to opt for the easy option, because the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), here in the UK, has revealed the most hacked passwords - are you guilty of using one?
The NCSC have released an in-depth analysis of the 100,000 most commonly used passwords 'that have been accessed by third parties in global cyber breaches', and the results show that some passwords in particular are commonly used.
It almost goes without saying that the numeric password 123456 was the most hacked, used 23.2 million times, followed by 123456789 (7.7 million times).
See the full list below:
123456 (23.2m)
123456789 (7.7m)
qwerty (3.8m)
password (3.6m)
1111111 (3.1m)
When it comes to names, the survey found that the most popular was ashley...
ashley (432,276)
michael (425,291)
daniel (368,227)
jessica (324,125)
charlie (308,939)
Fictional characters were also very popular with those surveyed...
superman (333,139)
naruto (242,749)
tigger (237,290)
pokemon (226,947)
batman (203,116)
Speaking about the findings, Dr Ian Levy, NCSC Technical Director, said, “Password re-use is a major risk that can be avoided - nobody should protect sensitive data with something that can be guessed, like their first name, local football team or favourite band.
“Using hard-to-guess passwords is a strong first step and we recommend combining three random but memorable words. Be creative and use words memorable to you, so people can’t guess your password."
Is it time to change your password?
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