Internet passwords can be hard to keep track of. Every day, it seems like there’s another login to create. This is why, one could argue, many people choose easy-to-remember passwords. For example, things like the names of childhood pets, significant others, or, say, the name of your favorite band. However, according to the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Center, people have maybe gotten a little too lazy with their online security choices.
In collaboration with Have I Been Pwned — an online service that allows users to check if their personal data has been compromised by data breaches — the British national agency compiled a “global password risk list.” The document (which you can download here) contains the top 100,000 internet passwords most vulnerable to hacking. According to the NCSC, some of the web’s most-hacked passwords include “blink182,” “metallica,” “slipknot,” “eminem” and “50cent.” It turns out, more internet users are lazier than was initially thought, and not only are they lazy, but apparently also not very creative.
“Password re-use is a major risk that can be avoided. Nobody should protect sensitive data with something that can be guessed, like their first name, local football team or favorite band,” Dr. Ian Levy, NCSC’s technical director, said in a statement. “Be creative and use words memorable to you, so people can’t guess your password.”
So there you have it, your password should be most memorable to you personally (i.e. not the name of a multi-platinum selling rock band).
