Sports clubs and TV shows among passwords easily guessed by hackers

Tue, 24 Oct, 2023 - 11:02

Sally Gorman

New data from Cyber Skills has revealed that popular sports clubs, renowned radio personalities, and beloved TV programmes are among the most commonly used passwords online, making them prime targets for cybercriminals.

Utilising the HaveIBeenPwned website, which houses over 613 million passwords from hacked accounts, a study was conducted to assess the vulnerability of certain passwords.

By inputting names of prominent Irish celebrities, sports teams, and cultural content, the results showed that these seemingly "unique" choices were, in actuality, widespread and easily guessable by hackers.

In light of these findings, and because October is Cyber Security Month, Irish people are being urged to re-evaluate and strengthen their password choices.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Digital Identity Guidelines emphasises the importance of secure password practices, advising organisations to block subscribers from using passwords that have previously appeared in a data breach.

This recommendation underscores the significance of selecting passwords that have not been compromised in past cyber incidents.

“Glenroe finished over 20 years ago on TV, yet it’s been used nearly 90 times in the hacked password database."

Dr Hazel Murray from Cyber Skills said: "What many consider a 'strong' password, referencing cultural touchpoints, is in fact easily deciphered by cybercriminals.

"There's a common misconception that if a password contains personal information or interests that it will be strong. Good passwords are multiple words strung together and avoid easily recognisable phrases."

“Glenroe finished over 20 years ago on TV, yet it’s been used nearly 90 times in the hacked password database," she added.

Richard Browne from the National Cyber Security Centre advises internet users to “use strong, long, diverse passwords."

"The longer the password, the more difficult it is to break. If you go to 10 characters or more it gets very very difficult to break it,” he said.

Some of the most common passwords in the hacked passwords database are "123456" which appeared 36 million times, "qwerty" which appeared 10 million times, and "password" which appeared 9 million times.

Common hacked passwords with an Irish slant

Cork