“Sorry, Mr. President, but this is not fake news – using your name or any common name as a password is a dangerous decision,” said Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData, Inc. “Hackers have great success using celebrity names, terms from pop culture and sports, and simple keyboard patterns to break into accounts online because they know so many people are using those easy-to- remember combinations.”

Each year, SplashData evaluates millions of leaked passwords to determine which passwords were most used by computer users during that year. Even with the risks well known, many millions of people continue to use weak, easily-guessable passwords to protect their online information. 2018 was the fifth consecutive year that “123456” and “password” retained their top two spots on the list. The next five top passwords on the list are simply numerical strings.

SplashData, provider of password management applications TeamsID, Gpass, and SplashID, releases its annual list in an effort to encourage the adoption of stronger passwords.

“Our hope by publishing this list each year is to convince people to take steps to protect themselves online,” says Slain. “It’s a real head-scratcher that with all the risks known, and with so many highly publicized hacks such as Marriott and the National Republican Congressional Committee, that people continue putting themselves at such risk year-after-year.”

SplashData’s Worst Passwords of 2018

1. 123456 
2. password 
3. 123456789 
4. 12345678 
5. 12345 
6. 111111 
7. 1234567
8. sunshine
9. qwerty 
10. iloveyou
11. princess 
12. admin 
13. welcome
14. 666666
15. abc123 
16. football
17. 123123 
18. monkey 
19. 654321
20. !@#$%^&*
21. charlie 
22. aa123456  w
23. donald 
24. password1 
25. qwerty123 

SplashData said it estimates almost 10% of people have used at least one of the 25 worst passwords on this year’s list, and nearly 3% of people have used the worst password, 123456.