Passwords by very purpose are to keep your accounts safe. But with increasing hacker attacks and password stealing incidents, the emphasis on a strong password have increased a great deal. Internet security firm Imperva recently unveiled a list of most commonly used passwords which are also the most unsafe ones and hacker’s dream. The password list has been compiled after analysis of over 32 million passwords.

[Image source: deviantart ~thekingbarron]

Here is the list of 10 most common passwords :

1. “123456”

This is according to Imperva is the most commonly used password. About 1% of 32 million people covered under research were using this password.

2. “12345”

This was the second most common password used by people. According to Imperva, a hacker can gain access to a new account every second. I believe people need to be more aware and careful while selecting their passwords. Rather than quickly choosing a password, one needs to give some thought to selecting a password.

3. “123456789”

Another similar combination of digits which is favourite among users is this password.

4. “Password”

Fourth most vulnerable password is the word Password itself. How innovative is that?

5. “iloveyou”

Fifth most used password is iloveyou. Strange as well as interesting to see what people choose as their passwords.

Security experts say that a sentence can be used to create secure password. For example : Techreviews is my favourite site. The password could be taken as TECHimfs.

6. “princess”

This one takes the sixth position.

Around 60% users use passwords from a limited set of characters. Around 40% use only lowercase characters and around 16% use only digits. Experts suggest that there should be a good mix of upper case, lower case as well as digits while selecting a password.

7. “Rockyou”

This stands at number 7 at the list of most hackable passwords.

8. “1234567”

The digit sequence reappears at number 8 in the list.

9. “12345678”

Continuing with the all digit passwords, another one figures in the list at number 9.

The study revealed around half the passwords being less than 7 characters long. Experts say that passwords should be at least 8 characters long. Also, experts say you should alter your passwords for different websites.

10. “abc123”

This one stands at the tenth position in the list.

Well, the report reveals startling facts in terms of password selection by users. Password must be chosen with care and should be strong enough not be hacked easily. Hope you are not with a password on the list. If you are, Changing it at the earliest might be sensible option.

Full report: Imperva