George is the most frequent weak password name used by consumers, with royal namesake Charlotte the fourth most popular
This was revealed by a study carried out by dark web specialists ID Agent, a Kaseya company. Just ahead of Charlotte came Michael as the second most commonly used name in weak passwords, followed by Hunter.
It gets worse…
On a more concerning level, the password analysis, which reviewed over 2 billion passwords, also revealed that the most often used poor password used by individuals today is the ingenious ‘123456’. This is closely followed by the inventive classics, ‘password’ and ‘email’. ‘password1’ secured fourth place, while ‘12345’ came in fifth.
On a lighter note, the top band names used in bad passwords is the ‘Beatles’ and, coincidentally, ‘Liverpool’ came out on top as one of the most commonly used poor passwords in the places category.
A lot of passwords to track
Kevin Lancaster, ID Agent Founder, said: “The fastest way for bad actors to penetrate a company’s defences is by obtaining that company’s passwords. Estimates suggest that over 80% of data breaches are directly caused by weak, cracked or stolen passwords. Between work and personal systems, one user might need to manage as many as 135 different login credentials, and that’s a lot to track – which is why people often use simple words and tend to reuse and recycle their passwords.
“But with so many individuals currently working from home” he added, “the threat of cyber-attacks has never been greater, and the need for good password management is more important than ever.”
Protection solutions
ID Agent provides Dark Web monitoring and identity theft protection with its flagship product, Dark Web ID, delivering Dark Web intelligence to identify, analyse and monitor for compromised or stolen employee and customer data, mitigating exposure to enterprise clients’ most valuable asset – their digital identity.