The 25 most popular (and worst) passwords of 2011

Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by repeatedly trying common passwords.

SplashData says even though people are encouraged to select secure, strong passwords, many people continue to choose weak, easy-to-guess ones, placing themselves at risk from fraud and identity theft.

What you don't want is a password that is easily guessable. If you have a password that is short or common or a word in the dictionary, it's like hanging our the welcome mat for identity thieves.

Even though thieves have sophisticated hacking tools available they still tend to prefer easy targets.

Just a little bit more sophistication in choosing passwords will go a long way toward being safer online.

The 25 most popular passwords in SplashData’s 2011 list:

password
123456
12345678
qwerty
abc123
monkey
1234567
letmein
trustno1
dragon
baseball
111111
iloveyou
master
sunshine
ashley
bailey
passw0rd
shadow
123123
654321
superman
qazwsx
michael
Football

SplashData also says your dog’s name’s a definite no-no…unless, of course, it happens to be Mr8@Mxyzptlk76%5.

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