Here’s a look at the top 20 passwords found on the dark web in 2020:
- 123456
- password
- 12345678
- 12341234
- 1asdasdasdasd
- Qwerty123
- Password1
- 123456789
- Qwerty1
- :12345678secret
- Abc123
- 111111
- stratfor
- lemonfish
- sunshine
- 123123123
- 1234567890
- Password123
- 123123
- 1234567
Casey Bond
·Money, Home and Living Reporter, HuffPost
Fri, February 19, 2021, 12:58 PM·4 min read
By now, you’re probably familiar with common advice surrounding online passwords. Don’t use a sequence of numbers. Don’t use your name. Don’t reuse the same password for all of your accounts.
And yet, despite the stress on such tips by experts year after year, most people ignore them.
Some 81% of hacking-related data breaches stem from poor password security, according to Verizon’s 2017 data breach investigations report. And with the rise of remote work and learning in the wake of the pandemic, it’s a bad habit that needs to be squashed. That starts by knowing what not to do.
ID Agent, a dark web monitoring company owned by IT software company Kaseya, says it identified the most common stolen passwords found on the dark web in 2020 based on a scan of nearly 3 million passwords.
What’s the dark web, you ask? The dark web is a part of the deep web, an area of the internet that doesn’t get indexed and cannot be found by a search engine.
“The dark web can only be accessed through a specific browser that provides anonymity to its users,” said Mike Puglia, chief strategy officer for Kaseya. “Though not all content on the dark web is malicious, cybercriminals use the dark web for various illegal purposes, including the sale of stolen credentials.”
20 Most Common Passwords Found On The Dark Web
Based on the top 250 passwords they discovered on the dark web, ID Agent said the most common categories used to generate those passwords include sequential strings of numbers, names, sports references, famous people or characters, and more.
Fifty-nine percent of Americans use a person’s name or birthday in their passwords, while 33% include a pet’s name and 22% use their own name, the company said. The average user also reused their bad password 14 times.
Here’s a look at the top 20 passwords found on the dark web in 2020:
- 123456
- password
- 12345678
- 12341234
- 1asdasdasdasd
- Qwerty123
- Password1
- 123456789
- Qwerty1
- :12345678secret
- Abc123
- 111111
- stratfor
- lemonfish
- sunshine
- 123123123
- 1234567890
- Password123
- 123123
- 1234567
The analysis also identified the most common words used within various categories of passwords. For instance, it found that “maggie” was the most common name among the top 250 passwords on the dark web. Sports lovers like to include the word “baseball” most often in their passwords. “Newyork” was found the most often among cities that were used, and “cookie” was the most common food word.
so, um…lemonfish? Seems pretty random to be among the top 20…
