When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

The 25 most popular passwords of 2012

Your password should be a unique string of characters that only you know and should also be a non-dictionary term (random letters as opposed to the name of your pet). Because we put so much information on the Internet, a strong password is all but necessary.

But, for the lazy among us, we know that some folks will forgo common sense and use easy passwords that nearly anyone could guess. SplashData has put together its annual list of the most common passwords and unchanged from last year, the top password is, password.

The full list is posted below and more baffling is that there are systems that accept these common passwords. Best practice should be to force the user to create more secure strings of characters to reduce the chance that their account will be compromised. 

The top 25 most common passwords:

1. password (Unchanged)
2, 123456 (Unchanged)
3. 12345678 (Unchanged)
4. abc123 (Up 1)
5. qwerty (Down 1)
6. monkey (Unchanged)
7. letmein (Up 1)
8. dragon (Up 2)
9. 111111 (Up 3)
10. baseball (Up 1)
11. iloveyou (Up 2)
12. trustno1 (Down 3)
13. 1234567 (Down 6)
14. sunshine (Up 1)
15. master (Down 1)
16. 123123 (Up 4)
17. welcome (New)
18. shadow (Up 1)
19. ashley (Down 3)
20. football (Up 5)
21. jesus (New)
22. michael (Up 2)
23. ninja     (New)
24. mustang (New)
25. password1 (New)

Source: SplashData | Image Credit: Shutterstock  "Password in Internet Browser on Computer Screen"

Report a problem with article
Next Article

Bloomberg: Apple launching online radio in 2013

Previous Article

Lync for Windows 8 and RT, app now available

Join the conversation!

Login or Sign Up to read and post a comment.

37 Comments - Add comment