'Welcome,' 'Jesus,' 'mustang' among most used passwords of 2012

‘Welcome,’ ‘Jesus,’ ‘mustang’ among most used passwords of 2012

A statue of Jesus at the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer in Las Vegas. The word "jesus" ranked No. 21 on the 2012 list of most used passwords, according to password management company SplashData.

By Deborah Netburn

Oct. 23, 2012 12 AM PT

Time to check your password.

Password management company SplashData has analyzed millions of passwords released online by hackers to compile its list of the most used passwords of 2012.

Once again, “password,” “123456” and “12345678” were the top three most common passwords.

But there were some interesting new additions to the list. “Jesus” and “Welcome” were new. So were “ninja,” “mustang” and, intriguingly, “password1.”

Our favorite password on the list, “trustno1,” fell three spots from last year, making it only the 12th most common password. “Shadow” moved up one spot to No. 18 from No. 19. And “monkey” remained unchanged at No. 6.

SplashData recommends that if you use one of the passwords on this list, you change it immediately.

“Even though each year hacking tools get more sophisticated, thieves still tend to prefer easy targets,” said Morgan Slain, SplashData’s chief executive, said in a statement. “Just a little bit more effort in choosing better passwords will go a long way toward making you more secure online.”

Here’s the list in its entirety (with some of our favorites in bold):

1. password

2. 123456

3. 12345678

4. abc123

5. qwerty

6. monkey

7. letmein

8. dragon

9. 111111

10. baseball

11. iloveyou