Here’s a pro tip: If your password is “password,” it’s probably time to change it.
SplashData, a company that offers a “complete password management and security solution,” culled from data stolen and posted online by hackers some of the most awesomely bad (and yet commonly used) passwords of all time. And while the research is for 2011, this isn’t the first such list–if you’ve seen one of these before, you’ll probably notice several culprits reappearing from years past.
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
Let’s go over what makes a good password again: You’ll want to include different types of characters, numbers and special characters in conjunction with each other. The longer your magic passphrase is, the better. Separate words with spaces if possible (underscores work, too). And while this ought to be a no-brainer, don’t use the same password for everything.
Last but not least? Your dog’s name’s a definite no-no…unless, of course, it happens to be Mr8@Mxyzptlk76%5.
Erica Ho is a reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @ericamho and Google+. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.