The “Worst Passwords List” from 2015 contains passwords to avoid
SplashData released its yearly list of most popular passwords for the year 2015 last Tuesday. The list is based on their study of more than 2 million passwords that were leaked last year, and a list from Western Europe and North America . The two criteria of analysis were:
1. Commonly leaked passwords
2. Least secure passwords
It makes sense then that the ones on the list should be the ones you should not use as a password.
Infographic on Worst Passwords of 2015
The password management company also released an infographic together with the release of the list.
How To Choose Secure Passwords
It was very kind of SplashData to provide tips to help people protect themselves. Here are the three simple tips below.
1. Use a minimum of 12 characters with mixed types of characters as password. A mixture of alphanumeric characters, lower case, uppercase and symbols usually makes your password more secure.
2. As much as possible, use different passwords for different websites. It is very common for people to use the same password on various accounts for convenience sake. But this is not a safe practice according to the study.
3. Use a password manager to help you organize, secure your passwords and generate secure passphrases.
Take a closer look at the original list to help you know which passwords to avoid.