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People Are Jeopardizing Their Own Account Security

Despite the media attention and public warnings about cyber-security breaches, millions of people are still using easy-to-hack passwords, according to a new report from the U.K. government’s National Cyber Security Centre. NCSC says that if you use any of these extremely common passwords, you need to change it immediately. Otherwise, you’re opening your accounts up to hackers, identity thieves, and other cyber-criminals fishing for personal information.

According to NCSC, the most common passwords uncovered in security breaches are:

123456 (23.2 million users)
123456789 (7.7 million users)
qwerty (3.8 million users)
password (3.6 million users)
111111 (3.1 million users)

According to the Global News of Canada, other passwords you should never use are “the names Ashley, Michael, and Daniel, the names of fictional characters Superman, Naruto and Tigger, band names including Blink182, 50Cent, and Eminem.”

If you want protection from hacking and other security problems, MCSC says your best bet is to get creative. The best passwords combine at least three random words, symbols, and numbers, and are case-sensitive. Use a unique password for each of your online accounts, and avoid using your first name, birthday, and the names of popular sports teams and bands.

“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,” Ian Levy, the technical director of the NCSC, said in a statement following the report’s release.