Security Firm Reveals 2016 Most Common Passwords, Claims It May Compromise Personal Security; Here’s How To Protect It Against Hackers

Security firm Keeper analyzed 10 million leaked records in 2016 and found out a very surprising yet depressing fact about the most common passwords of the year. It is also disturbing when you think about it as online passwords may compromise your protection. Keeper claimed that having the same password in the list is a danger for your personal security.

2016 Most Common Passwords

Based on the 10 million leaked password Keeper has gathered from the public web, the most common password is no other than 123456. Surely everyone has used this combination for at least once in their entire lives. Nearly 17% out the sample size uses this password. The second most common is, of course, 123456789 followed by qwerty. Below is the full list of 2016's most common passwords. Keeper advised that if you are using one of the combinations below, change it immediately as you have a greater risk of exposing your private information.

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

Despite having numerous data breached for years, website operators are still not imposing best practices for users to generate strong passwords. Keeper believes that website operators are partly responsible for the security of their users, thus, they should take measures in order to protect them.

"We can criticize all we want about the chronic failure of users to employ strong passwords. After all, it's in the user's best interests to do so. But the bigger responsibility lies with website owners who fail to enforce the most basic password complexity policies. It isn't hard to do, but the list makes it clear that many still don't bother," Keeper stated on their blog.

How To Have Strong Passwords And Protection Against Hackers

To gain high-level of password security, one must use a variety of characters - a combination of numerical, uppercase, and lowercase. Avoid using dictionary terms as it easy to be compromised by using dictionary-based cracking tools. If you are having difficulties in remembering strong passwords with a long combination of characters, you have the option to use third-party password managers.