Top 10 Most Common Passwords 26 May, 2006 — Stuart Brown

Users: Strong passwords? No thanks!

Posted in Security & Hacking, Passwords

Tagged with: password, security, thomas, top, 10, ten, most, common, arsenal, monkey, charlie, qwerty, 123456, letmein, liverpool, 123

Life these days has become largely dependent on passwords - whether we're checking our emails, transferring funds or shopping online, passwords have their part to play. We're constantly bombarded with horror stories of security breaches, fraud, and phishing sites. Users are consistently told that a strong password is essential these days to protect private data. Why is it, then, that users on websites opt for the same, consistent, insecure passwords time after time?

Taking an aggregate sample of passwords (primarily from the UK), we take a look at the most commonly occurring. If you spot your own password listed - it might just be time for a change!

10. 'thomas' (0.99‰)

First off, at number 10, is the most common format of passwords - the name. Thomas is a perennially popular name in the UK (2nd most popular in 2000), so it is perhaps no surprise that it makes the top 10, with nearly 1 in 1,000 people opting for this ubiquitous forename as their password.

We can only guess that there are a lot of fans of Thomas Jefferson or Thomas Edison out there! The high prevalence of Christian names only further reinforces the fact that loved ones are a common choice when it comes to passwords.

9. 'arsenal' (1.11‰)

Football teams tend to be another popular choice, and the gunners fall in 9th place. This may or may not be reflective of the fact that the word 'arsenal' starts with a 4-letter swear word - another popular choice when it comes to passwords.

Arsenal are ranked 6th overall in average attendance rankings, and are the 2nd most popular football-related password.

8. 'monkey' (1.33‰)

Quite why the monkey makes it into 8th place is beyond me, but the fact that it's a 6-letter word (6 letters is a typical minimum length for passwords), is easily typed and is memorable probably helps cement its position as ideal password material.

Still, it's quite worrying that there's such a trend - perhaps the internet and monkeys are inextricably linked?

7. 'charlie' (1.39‰)

Another name - nowhere near as common a name as No. 10, Thomas, but it's our most popular name-based password overall.

Could of course, be a homage to a number of famous Charlies - Chaplin, Sheen, or those of a Chocolate Factory persuasion. Or, of course, it could just be the case that they're referring to it's slang usage.

6. 'qwerty' (1.41‰)

I wonder where the inspiration for this one came from? Perhaps when faced with a blinking cursor and an instruction to choose a password people will tend to look to the things closest to them - which would explain why 1 in 700 people choose 'qwerty' as their password.

5. '123456' (1.63‰)