Special Report

The Worst Most Common Passwords in America

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: January 25, 2022 1:00 pm

People’s lives have moved online. They watch TV and videos on PCs and smartphones. They do their banking and buy almost everything they use on e-commerce sites like Amazon. People do not write letters anymore – they use email. They store photos and personal videos in the cloud. Some even buy cars without visiting a dealership. One thing all of these activities have in common is that they require a password.

The nature of passwords means that accounts can be broken into. This can happen on an individual level, but the problem can also involve millions of personal records when a company’s passwords are hacked. This has happened to Yahoo, Facebook, Playstation, Twitter, LinkedIn, Adobe, eBay, Equifax, Dropbox, and other sites that you’d think would have impregnable security. It has become a major risk of life online. (These are the states with the most identity theft.)

The chances of being hacked are greatly increased by the fact that people often use passwords that are easy to break. To determine which are the easiest, 24/7 Tempo reviewed a recent study by the VPN service CyberGhost’s educational initiative The Privacy Hub, titled “The Worst Passwords in the Last Decade (And New Ones You Shouldn’t Use)”.

The study revealed that 81% of all data security breaches are caused by weak passwords, and that “Many passwords believed to be deeply personal to you are, in fact, quite common – making them easier to crack – and they could be putting you at an increased risk of being targeted by cybercriminals.” In addition, according to the report, 60% of people use the same passwords across different accounts and 51% use the same password for work and personal purposes. (Here are the most common passwords in America and how long they take to crack.)

The study listed the most common passwords by category. These included number sequences and variations, the word “password” and variations, keyboard patterns, passwords taken from TV and movie titles, personal names, kinds of animals and names of pets, sports and team names, car brands, IT and technology terms, names of games and applications (and sites). names of celebrities and characters, key events, political names and terms, words from nature, expletives, and miscellaneous terms including those referring to food, colors, locations, and love.

Click here to see some of the worst passwords of the last decade

Many of these passwords are astonishingly easy to guess. The easiest include “123456”, “password”, “starwars,” and “Football”. The use of any of the passwords on this list, though – or any other easy ones to guess – shows that people are fools when it comes to protecting themselves online.

Source: 24/7 Wall Street

password
> Password type: The word “password” & variations

Source: emholk / iStock via Getty Images

hockey
> Password type: Sports & team names

Source: Berezko / iStock via Getty Images

123456789
> Password type: Number sequences & variations

[in-text-ad-2]

Source: kevron2001 / iStock via Getty Images

golf
> Password type: Sports & team names

Source: PeopleImages / iStock via Getty Images

Abc123
> Password type: Number sequences & variations

[in-text-ad]

Source: efks / iStock via Getty Images

Football
> Password type: Sports & team names

Source: anyaberkut / iStock via Getty Images

zxcvbnm
> Password type: Keyboard variations

Source: Patrick Lux / Getty Images News via Getty Images

Million2
> Password type: Number sequences & variations

[in-text-ad-2]

Source: by_nicholas / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

football
> Password type: Sports & team names

Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

asdf
> Password type: Keyboard variations

[in-text-ad]

Source: Duncan_Andison / iStock via Getty Images

thomas
> Password type: Names

24/7 Wall St.
States With the Most Identity Theft

Source: Prostock-Studio / iStock via Getty Images

1q2w3e4r
> Password type: Keyboard variations

Source: Duncan_Andison / iStock via Getty Images

qwerty123
> Password type: Keyboard variations

[in-text-ad-2]

Source: tunart / E+ via Getty Images

dragon
> Password type: Animals & pets

Source: diego_cervo / iStock via Getty Images

jessica
> Password type: Names

[in-text-ad]

Source: PeopleImages / iStock via Getty Images

password1
> Password type: The word “password” & variations

Source: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

starwars
> Password type: TV & movie titles

Source: Thitisate Thitirojanawat / iStock via Getty Images

buster
> Password type: Animals & pets

[in-text-ad-2]

Source: 24/7 Wall Street

qwerty
> Password type: Keyboard variations

Source: Rob Carr / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

cowboys
> Password type: Sports & team names

[in-text-ad]

Source: kali9 / E+ via Getty Images

123456
> Password type: Number sequences & variations

Source: Finn Hafemann / E+ via Getty Images

ashley
> Password type: Names

Source: nd3000 / iStock via Getty Images

passw0rd
> Password type: The word “password” & variations

[in-text-ad-2]

Source: Ridofranz / iStock via Getty Images

Password
> Password type: The word “password” & variations

Source: Jake Lange / iStock via Getty Images

rabbit
> Password type: Animals & pets

[in-text-ad]

Source: SARINYAPINNGAM / iStock via Getty Images

michael
> Password type: Names

Source: jcamilobernal / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

lakers
> Password type: Sports & team names

Source: 24/7 Wall Street

123123
> Password type: Number sequences & variations

[in-text-ad-2]

Source: Nastco / iStock via Getty Images

butterfly
> Password type: Animals & pets

Source: natasaadzic / iStock via Getty Images

passwoord
> Password type: The word “password” & variations

[in-text-ad]

Source: PeopleImages / iStock via Getty Images

charlie
> Password type: Names

24/7 Wall St.
Countries With the Most Leaked Passwords

Source: shironosov / iStock via Getty Images

zaq1zaq1
> Password type: Keyboard variations

Source: Julian Finney / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

arsenal
> Password type: Sports & team names

[in-text-ad-2]

Source: 33ft / iStock via Getty Images

baseball
> Password type: Sports & team names

Source: Nastco / iStock via Getty Images

qwertyuiop
> Password type: Keyboard variations

[in-text-ad]

Source: lechatnoir / Getty Images

qazwsx
> Password type: Keyboard variations

24/7 Wall St.
States With the Most Identity Theft

Source: dusanpetkovic / iStock via Getty Images

senha
> Password type: The word “password” & variations

Source: anyaberkut / iStock via Getty Images

password123
> Password type: The word “password” & variations

[in-text-ad-2]

Source: Al Bello / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

yankees
> Password type: Sports & team names

Source: Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images

jennifer
> Password type: Names

[in-text-ad]

Source: matimix / iStock via Getty Images

soccer
> Password type: Sports & team names

Source: 24/7 Wall Street

monkey
> Password type: Animals & pets

Source: Thomas Northcut / DigitalVision via Getty Images

basketball
> Password type: Sports & team names

[in-text-ad-2]

Source: DikkyOesin / iStock via Getty Images

tiger
> Password type: Animals & pets

Source: VPanteon / iStock via Getty Images

111111
> Password type: Number sequences & variations

[in-text-ad]

Source: Poike / iStock

bailey
> Password type: Animals & pets

24/7 Wall St.
Small Cities With the Best and Most Reliable Internet Access

Source: RayaHristova / iStock via Getty Images

daniel
> Password type: Names

Source: Dean Mitchell / E+ via Getty Images

charlie
> Password type: Animals & pets

[in-text-ad-2]

Source: Chainarong Prasertthai / iStock via Getty Images

654321
> Password type: Number sequences & variations