PASS PANIC

Warning for ALL Facebook and Gmail users – 25 passwords you MUST change

DO YOU think you've got an uncrackable password? It might not be as safe as you reckon.

Common passwords used by lots of people are easy to guess, making them a liability when it comes to staying safe from hackers.

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It's best to avoid common passwords that are easy to guessCredit: Getty

If a hacker were to guess your logins, you could lose access to your Facebook and Gmail accounts, or worse...

Cybersecurity company NordPass recently revealed the 200 most common passwords – and some of them might surprise you.

The list was put together with the help of independent researchers specialising in cybersecurity incidents.

They evaluated a 4TB database of credentials – enough memory to store 800,000 songs.

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In the NordPass most common passwords list, you can see results broken down by 50 different countries.

In at number one for the UK is "123456", while in at number two is – you've guessed it – "password".

Other common credentials were based on people's favourite bands or sports teams.

Number three in the UK's list, for instance, is "liverpool" - while "arsenal" occupies the number eight spot.

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"Monkey", "chocolate" and a number of common first names also featured in Britain's list of favourite passwords.

Using a common password leaves your online accounts exposed to cyber crooks.

That's because hackers can easily guess them using specialised software that checks thousands of credential combos an hour.

Once in your accounts, crooks can access your emails, social media and more.

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They can also use any information they glean to target you with phishing attacks in a bid to get hold of your bank account logins.

Many companies have stepped up their efforts to encourage users to use stronger passwords.

For instance, Apple and Google now automatically suggest strong passwords when any online form prompts you to create one.

A good password should be eight or more characters long and not contain your user name, real name or company name.

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It should contain no full words, be different to passwords used elsewhere and contain at least one each of the following: Upper-case letter, lower-case letter, number and symbol (such as % or &).

Any of the passwords in the list below would take cyber crooks less than a few seconds to crack.

Full list of passwords to avoid

  1. 123456
  2. password
  3. liverpool
  4. password1
  5. 123456789
  6. 12345
  7. qwerty
  8. liverpool1
  9. charlie
  10. arsenal
  11. chelsea
  12. abc123
  13. 12345678
  14. football
  15. monkey
  16. arsenal1
  17. 1234567
  18. chocolate
  19. rangers
  20. 123123
  21. qwerty123
  22. welcome
  23. charlie1
  24. thomas
  25. qwerty1

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