Istock Crappy Password

Hundreds of millions of internet users continue to put themselves at risk of having their accounts hacked by using incredibly simple and commonly used passwords which can easily be guessed by cyber criminals - or worse, just plucked from databases of stolen information.

An analysis of the 100,000 most common passwords made public by data breaches and hacking campaigns suggests that vast swathes of people still don't understand the importance of having a strong password – or how to create one – using names, sports teams, bands and even just keys close together on the keyboard in an effort to secure accounts.

The passwords have been gathered using information from global data data breaches which are already in the public domain, having been leaked, shared or sold by hackers on the dark web.

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