NewsNational News

Actions

Are you using one of these passwords? You might want to change it

Posted
and last updated

When it comes to passwords, longer doesn’t necessarily mean better.

That was apparent on Tuesday, when SplashData released its fifth annual “Worst Passwords” list. “123456” and “password” remained at the top of the list for the fifth straight year, but longer entries reflect the growing concerns of online identity theft — or longer password requirements.

“1234567890,” “qwertyuiop” (the top row of letters on a standard keyboard) and “1qaz2wsx” (the first two columns on a standard keyboard) all made the Top 25 list for the first time, reflecting tech companies’ push to make devices and accounts harder to hack. Unfortunately, many users don’t seem to be taking the suggestions to heart.

“If these longer passwords are based on simple patterns, they will put you in just as much risk of having your identity stolen by hackers,” said SplashData CEO Morgan Slain on the company’s website.

Many tech companies are hoping to completely do away with passwords in the future. But for now, security experts agree that when setting a new password, users should include special characters and both upper- and lower-case letters when possible and avoid full words and avoid repeating passwords on separate accounts.

The top 25 List also mirroredTV ratings in the sports world, as “football” rose three spots to No. 7, and “baseball” dropped two spots to No. 10.

It’s also no surprise that “starwars” and “solo” cracked the top 25, thanks to the release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in December.

Check out the complete Top 25 list below:

Rank

Password

Change from 2014

1

123456

Unchanged

2

password

Unchanged

3

12345678

Up 1

4

qwerty

Up 1

5

12345

Down 2

6

123456789

Unchanged

7

football

Up 3

8

1234

Down 1

9

1234567

Up 2

10

baseball

Down 2

11

welcome

New

12

1234567890

New

13

abc123

Up 1

14

111111

Up 1

15

1qaz2wsx

New

16

dragon

Down 7

17

master

Up 2

18

monkey

Down 6

19

letmein

Down 6

20

login

New

21

princess

New

22

qwertyuiop

New

23

solo

New

24

passw0rd

New

25

starwars

New

Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.