One of the best parts about a massive data leak is when researchers inevitably release a list of the most common passwords used across that database.
Such is the case today with the Ashley Madison hack. The list of stupid Ashley Madison passwords continues to get longer and more depressing.
After the infamous cheating website suffered a hack this summer, it was inevitable that passwords would be leaked onto the internet. But few people expected these passwords to be so stupid.
ArsTechnica revealed the full list of 100 bad passwords earlier today and wow they are dumb.
Here are the top 10 stupidest (i.e. most common) passwords used by Ashley Madison users:
1) 123456
2) 12345
3) password
4) DEFAULT
5) 123456789
6) qwerty
7) 12345678
8) abc123
9) pussy
10) 1234567
My favorite password is 123456789. Because the guy who chose that password deliberately chose a longer password for better security. He consciously decided that 12345 and 123456 were not nearly secure enough for his cheating account – so he went the extra mile by typing in 3 extra numbers. Smart.
To get this data, researchers cracked more than 15 million Ashley Madison passwords. To date, 11.7 million of those passwords have been recovered. The passwords that haven’t been recovered are among the 3.7 million cryptographic hashtags that can withstand even a brute force attack from a supercomputer – so those users were the smart ones.
Shockingly, only 4.6 million of the 11.7 million passwords used on the website were unique. Less than half of Ashley Madison passwords had a unique password. That means the average user shared a password with at least one other member.
In the case of passwords like 123456, users shared that password with a shocking 120,511 other members, which is why it’s at the top of the list.
Other Stupid Ashley Madison Passwords from the Leak
You can view the full list here, but here are some of my favorites:
-696969 (classic and mature)
-f*ckme (hopeful)
-ashleymadison (you’ll never forget it, at least)
-hello (nothing like a friendly greeting to start your day of cheating!)
-kazuga (I assume this is a bad word in a foreign language, because all that comes up when you Google it is some Twitch TV account and a bunch of weird Asian stuff)
-zxcvbnm (might look like nonsense, but it’s just the bottom row of the keyboard)
-1qaz2wsx (another stream that looks like nonsense, but is just the first two vertical rows of the keyboard)
-dragon (seriously, were Ashley Madison users all 12 years old?)
I’ve never been so disappointed reading through a password leak before. Just remember: if you have a stupid password that you think is clever and easy to remember, then chances are good that you’re not the only one using it out there unless it’s a legitimate nonsense word with numbers and alphanumerical characters mixed in.
