Wookie mistake: ‘starwars’ is now one of the world’s 25 worst passwords

By Lulu Chang Published December 19, 2017

New year, same bad passwords. Despite growing concerns over cybersecurity (or really, the lack thereof), it looks like the majority of us still haven’t learned our lesson. SplashData has just released its fifth annual list of the 25 worst passwords, and it looks like 365 days and a far greater number of security breaches did little to improve our password strength. The comprehensive list was compiled with information from more than two million leaked passwords over the course of 2015, and came mostly from users in North America and Western Europe. And yes, really, “123456” still holds the number-one spot.

The two most popular passwords, “123456” and “password,” have maintained their positions at the top of the list for the second consecutive year. In fact, of the list of 25, seven are just a combination of consecutive numbers. Other predictable suspects include “qwerty,” “welcome,” “letmein,” and “login,” but a few newcomers also appeared on the scene. With the much anticipated recent release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, several people seemed to take inspiration from a galaxy far, far away to protect their data. The words “solo,” “princess,” and “starwars” all made appearances on the list.

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And as for the sports fans of the world, football and baseball were both in the top 10, though “basketball” missed the cut altogether.

And even if you think you’re being clever by using a common password but just replacing a letter (like “passw0rd” instead of “password”), it turns out many others have had the same thought — just goes to show that we’re all more alike than we think.

Check out the full list of the 25 worst (and most common) passwords of 2015 below. And please, if you use one of them, do yourself a favor and change it now.

25 worst passwords of 2015

1. 123456	6. 123456789	11. welcome	16. dragon	21. princess
2. password	7. football	12. 1234567890	17. master	22. qwertyuiop
3. 12345678	8. 1234	13. abc123	18. monkey	23. solo
4. qwerty	9. 1234567	14. 111111	19. letmein	24. passw0rd
5. 12345	10. baseball	15. 1qaz2wsx	20. login	25. starwars

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