The most hacked passwords revealed in the NCSC Survey
The NCSC has published their first-ever UK Cyber Survey measuring and understanding awareness and attitudes towards cyber security, and related behaviours.
Published in the survey is a global password risk list, which includes the most commonly occurring names and football teams used as passwords in breaches. So, any Ashley’s out there who support Liverpool FC – you may want to rethink your password!
Brits have been urged to apply steps to stay safe online after results of the UK Cyber Survey exposed exploitable gaps in their personal security knowledge.
- NCSC’s first ‘UK Cyber Survey’ shows 42% of Brits expect to lose money to online fraud
- Breach analysis finds 23.2 million victim accounts worldwide used 123456 as password
- Global password risk list published to disclose passwords already known to hackers
- NCSC urges using 3 random words as passwords on the eve of CYBERUK 2019 event
Amongst the results published – were that;
- Only 15% say they know a great deal about how to protect themselves from harmful activity
- The most regular concern is money being stolen – with 42% feeling it likely to happen by 2021
- 89% use the internet to make online purchases – with 39% on a weekly basis
- One in three rely to some extent on friends and family for help on cyber security
- Young people more likely to be privacy-conscious and careful of what details they share online
- 61% of internet users check social media daily, but 21% report they never look at social media
- 70% always use PINs and passwords for smart phones and tablets
- Less than half do not always use a strong, separate password for their main email account
The NCSC has also published a separate analysis of the 100,000 most commonly re-occurring passwords that have been accessed by third parties in global cyber breaches.
The results show a huge number of regularly used passwords breached to access sensitive information.
| Most used in total | Names | Premier League football teams | Musicians | Fictional characters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 123456 (23.2m) | ashley (432,276) | liverpool (280,723) | blink182 (285,706) | superman (333,139) |
| 123456789 (7.7m) | michael (425,291) | chelsea (216,677) | 50cent (191,153 | naruto (242,749) |
| qwerty (3.8m) | daniel (368,227) | arsenal (179,095) | eminem (167,983 | tigger (237,290_ |
| password (3.6m) | jessica (324,125) | manutd (59,440) | metallica (140,841) | pokemon (226,947) |
| 1111111 (3.1m) | charlie (308,939) | everton (46,619) | slipknot (140,833) | batman (203,116) |
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