25 most used (worst) passwords of 2015

Creating passwords in order to protect your online accounts and information should be top priority, however once again the annual “worst passwords list” from SplashData has proven we haven’t been creating more secure passwords since the companies’ first report in 2011.

Worryingly, “123456” and “password” have remained the top two most common passwords used for the last 5 years. Of course, simple numerical passwords are the easiest for you to remember which is why 6 of the top 10 worst passwords contain just numbers; however they are also the easiest to guess as well.

Here is the list of the 25 worst passwords that you should avoid using at all costs in 2016:

1) 123456 (hasn’t moved)

2) password (hasn’t moved)

3) 12345678 (up 1)

4) qwerty (up 1)

5) 12345 (down 2)

6) 123456789 (hasn’t moved)

7) football (up 3)

8) 1234 (down 1)

9) 1234567 (up 2)

10) baseball (down 2)

11) welcome (new to list)

12) 1234567890 (new to list)

13) abc123 (up 1)

14) 111111 (up 1)

15) 1qaz2wsx (new to list)

16) dragon (down 7)

17) master (up 2)

18) monkey (down 6)

19) letmein (down 6)

20) login (new to list)

21) princess (new to list)

22) qwertyuiop (new to list)

23) solo (new to list)

24) passw0rd (new to list)

25) starwars (new to list)

So if you are using any of these passwords then change them immediately. If you want to create safer passwords here are 3 tips:

• Use passwords with 12 or more characters including multiple lower and upper cased characters.

• Don’t use the same password across different accounts and websites.

• Use a password manager to organise and protect your passwords. Password managers will automatically log you into websites as well as generate random passwords to keep you secure.