A study has revealed the most hackable pop-culture passwords to have, with comic book superheroes scoring high on the list.
- READ MORE: Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice Review
The study, which was carried out by Mailsuite, analysed 300million hacked accounts, and identified the most dangerous passwords with references to pop-culture.
The study found that the most hackable password reference was Superman, with the iconic DC superhero showing up in 584,697 data breaches, while rock band Blink-182 scored second place, appearing in 482,244 breaches.
Fellow DC hero Batman takes third place, while George Lucas’ mega franchise Star Wars was the fourth most-used pop-culture reference in breached passwords.
Rappers Eminem and 50 Cent appear next, before heavy metal legends Metallica and Slipknot in seventh and eighth place respectively.
Marvel doesn’t make an appearance until ninth place, with Spider-Man just making it into the top ten most dangerous pop-culture passwords, followed by video game Minecraft.
Speaking on the ability to hack these passwords, Mailsuite said (via Forbes): “Unfortunately, hackers are all too aware of humanity’s reliance on unsafe password practices”.
They explained how the habit of repeating passwords can make it easier for a hacker to access all your online accounts: “One in four people reuse the same password across more than eleven sites and apps, meaning a hacker gaining access to one account can quickly gain access to the rest in a domino effect.”
A number of Hollywood stars’ names were also found in password breaches, with Zac Efron being the most commonly used, followed by Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp.
Next on the list is Emma Watson as the only female appearing in the top ten list of actors’ names used, with Al Pacino following in fifth place.
Mailsuite advises users to avoid personalising their passwords. “Over a third of people include personal information in their passwords,” they explained, “so all a hacker needs to do to crack the code is scour social media feeds for clues.”
Check out the top 25 most hackable pop-culture reference passwords below.
- Superman
- Blink-182
- Batman
- Star Wars
- Eminem
- 50 Cent
- Metallica
- Slipknot
- Spider-Man
- Minecraft
- Hello Kitty
- Barbie
- New York Yankees
- Green Day
- Slayer
- Flo Rida
- Pantera
- Warcraft
- Linkin Park
- Boston Red Sox
- Rammstein
- Harry Potter
- Avatar
- Terminator
- Pikachu
In other hacking news, Ticketmaster has now acknowledged its recent data breach, which resulted in 560million customers’ personal details and card information being obtained. The well-known hacker group, ShinyHunters, claimed that they had stolen 1.3 terabytes of data from the company, which it is threatening to sell.
Speaking on the breach, Ticketmaster has said that it “has not had, and we do not believe it is reasonably likely to have, a material impact on our overall business operations or on our financial condition or results of operations.”