The results are in, and the most common password of 2016 is still "123456," while "123456789" and "qwerty" take the second and third places, respectively.
By "still," we mean that "123456" remains at the top of the list since 2015, and that more or less goes to show that most online users haven't taken cues from some of the biggest hacking cases that made rounds online last year, which victimized a few bigwigs in the tech world such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter head honcho Jack Dorsey, to name a few.
Almost 17 Percent Use '123456'
Combing through 10 million passwords, Keeper Security found that almost 17 percent use "123456," and needless to say, it's not exactly the hardest code to crack.
"Looking at the list of 2016's most common passwords, we couldn't stop shaking our heads. Nearly 17 percent of users are safeguarding their accounts with '123456.' What really perplexed us is that so many website operators are not enforcing password security best practices," Darren Guccione, CEO of Keeper Security, says.
How To Make A Secure Password
To steer clear of online intruders, Keeper Security suggests that users craft passwords with a variety of characters and stay away from dictionary terms. Making them long will help too, as "brute-force cracking software and hardware" can easily break passwords that consist of six or fewer characters.
More than that, the company also urges everyone to use password managers, particularly its own app Keeper Password Manager, which is available via the Google Play Store, the App Store, and the Microsoft Store.
Most Common Passwords Of 2016
For a better idea of users' password habits, here's a list of the most common passwords of 2016 from Keeper Security:
1. 123456
2. 123456789
3. qwerty
4. 12345678
5. 111111
6. 1234567890
7. 1234567
8. password
9. 123123
10. 987654321
11. qwertyuiop
12. mynoob
13. 123321
14. 666666
15. 18atcskd2w
16. 7777777
17. 1q2w3e4r
18. 654321
19. 555555
20. 3rjs1la7qe
21. google
22. 1q2w3e4r5t
23. 123qwe
24. zxcvbnm
25. 1q2w3e
As mentioned earlier, "123456" is still the reigning champ of sorts in the worst-passwords "competition," and this goes without saying, but anyone who has their password included in the list may be better off with changing it.
Also, Keeper Security points out that "1q2w3e4r" and "123qwe" are signs that some users are attempting to make hard-to-guess passwords, but it says that dictionary-based password crackers can easily figure those out.
On an interesting note, the eighth-placer "password" was the password of a North Korean Facebook clone, which was hacked by a teenager in 2016. That's just one of the many proofs that a generic password is easy to break and that users should not touch such a thing with a ten-foot pole.
Wrapping Up
To boil things down, users better not use any generic passwords such as "123456," "123456789," and "qwerty" if they want to stay safe online. Otherwise, they might just be the prime targets of unruly cyber attackers.
With all said and done, what do you think of the passwords listed above? Feel free to hit us up in the comments section below and let us know, and don't forget to change your password if it's included there.
