{"id":4491,"date":"2015-01-22T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2015-01-22T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?p=4491"},"modified":"2020-02-26T18:59:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T14:59:32","slug":"25-worst-passwords-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/25-worst-passwords-2014\/4491\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember the Gawker Media Password Breach of 2010?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gizmodo published a list of the most popular passwords of 2014, smugly deriding \u201cthose morons\u201d who deploy poorly conceived credentials. Ironically, it may bear reminding that Gizmodo is owned by Gawker Media, who became the poster-child for poor password management in 2010 when attackers compromised the networks of Gawker, and decrypted nearly 200,000 terrible passwords. Wouldn\u2019t it be an interesting exercise to compare the object of Gizmodo\u2019s current scorn with its readership circa 2010?<\/p>\n

\"passwords\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Interestingly, 16 of the 25 passwords on this year\u2019s list of popular (and therefore ineffective<\/a>) passwords were also on the list of the most commonly used passwords from the Gawker data breach in 2010. If we look at the top 50 common passwords revealed in the Gawker breach, there are only four new passwords that aren\u2019t included on both lists. So if your password is \u201caccess\u201d or \u201cmustang\u201d or the hilariously puerile \u201c696969\u201d then you\u2019re actually doing a better job than most people.\u00a0<\/p>

Little has changed from the @Gawker #breach to this year\u2019s list of bad #passwords<\/p>Tweet<\/a><\/blockquote>\n

The list itself is an aggregation of credential containing data leaks from the year,\u00a0put together by the security firm SplashData<\/a>. As you can see below, SplashData puts one of these lists together each year and notes movement up, down, and onto the list next to each password. I have put an asterisk next to any password that also showed up in the top 50 of Gawker\u2019s passwords.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 123456 (No change)*<\/li>\n
  2. password (No change)*<\/li>\n
  3. 12345 (up 17)*<\/li>\n
  4. 12345678 (down one)*<\/li>\n
  5. qwerty (down one)*<\/li>\n
  6. 123456789 (no change)<\/li>\n
  7. 1234 (up nine)*<\/li>\n
  8. baseball (new)*<\/li>\n
  9. dragon (new)*<\/li>\n
  10. football (new)*<\/li>\n
  11. 1234567 (down four)*<\/li>\n
  12. monkey (up five)*<\/li>\n
  13. letmein (up one)*<\/li>\n
  14. abc123 (down nine)*<\/li>\n
  15. 111111 (down eight)*<\/li>\n
  16. mustang (new)<\/li>\n
  17. access (new)<\/li>\n
  18. shadow (unchanged)*<\/li>\n
  19. master (new)*<\/li>\n
  20. michael (new)*<\/li>\n
  21. superman (new)*<\/li>\n
  22. 696969 (new)<\/li>\n
  23. 123123 (down 12)*<\/li>\n
  24. batman (new)*<\/li>\n
  25. trustno1 (down 1)*<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It\u2019s interesting that 80 percent of the passwords listed as \u201cnew\u201d were actually in the top fifty Gawker passwords more than four years ago. It\u2019s also interesting that \u201c123456789\u201d is not new to SplashData\u2019s list, but it did not appear in the infamous Gawker top 50<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \n

    The 25 most popular passwords of 2014 are a reminder that we're all morons: http:\/\/t.co\/uIT1t3dYRG<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/JhDByxjWep<\/a><\/p>\n

    \u2014 Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) January 20, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n