It seems you can't do anything online these days without having to use a password to log-in first (we sure make you use one). It's no surprise that we use the same passwords for most of the sites we visit as it would be impossible to remember a different password for each site. Researchers in UK have shown that we have little imagination when it comes to thinking up passwords and the same passwords are used by many people. Here's the top ten most used passwords in the UK along with probable reasons why.
Thomas is one of the most common boys name in Britain. In 2007 Thomas was the second most popular name for boys aged 1 - 25, so it looks like people called Thomas tend to use their names for passwords. Jack, by the way, is the most popular boys name, but because it's only 4 letters it can't be used as a password for most sites. I guess girls are more creative - there are no girls names in the top ten!
Football fans will know why this name is in the top ten. Arsenal are well supported London football team.
I bet you didn't expect to see this in the top ten, did you? Monkey is a simple 6 letter word so it's perfect for a password which requires 6 letters. People either love monkeys or there are a lot of monkeys secretly using the internet!
Another boys name, but not that common. There's possibly another reason why people use it. It could be due to the popularity of books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or it could be linked to the slang name for cocaine: 'charlie'. Naughty, naughty!
This is a bit of a lazy one. 'qwerty' are 6 letters in a row on your keyboard. Take a look...see! At least you won't forget how to spell it!
Even lazier than the one above. '123456' - it's as easy as 'abcdef' to remember, but quicker to type.
Let me in! The password here speaks for itself, i.e., 'let me in to the site'.
Another English football team. There's a good chance that your friend who supports Liverpool uses the team's name as a password. useful information if you want to hack his user account!
using 'password' as your password is either the best idea in the world or the worst. I haven't figured it out yet. What do you think?
When people don't have to give a minimum length for their password they keep it very simple.
Question: What could be more simple than 123?
Answer: Nothing.
Question: What could be more stupid than having 123 as a password?
Answer: Nothing!
thinking up - to produce a new idea or plan.
expect - to think or believe something will happen in the future.
hack - to get into someone else's computer system without permission in order to find out information or do something illegal.
figured out - to have found the solution to a problem after a lot of thought.
minimum - the smallest amount or number allowed or possible.
How about you? Do always use the same passwords or do you use lots of different ones?
