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New study unveils the most common password mistakes
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No Caption - photo by Herb Scribner
Everything youve thought about passwords might change.

A new study from a researcher at Virginia Tech and Dashlane, a popular password managing service, discovered the most common mistakes people make when selecting a password.

Some of the big findings:

  • Most users will repeat the same password across different websites.
  • People often use names for common brands, movies and people from pop culture.
  • Others select passwords based on sports teams.
  • Champions League teams were mighty popular, including soccer clubs such as liverpool, barcelona and manchester.
  • A lot use password walking, meaning using characters and numbers that are near each other on the keyboard.
  • Expressions of love and hate, such as iloveyou and ihateyou" were also pretty common.


The study reviewed 6.1 million passwords that the researcher, Gang Wang, and Dashlane collected, according to Inc.

The study revealed some helpful tips on how to craft the best password, according to Business Insider:

  • Use a unique password for each account.
  • Passwords should be longer than the minimum characters.
  • Use a mix of upper and lower case letters, as well as numbers and special characters.
  • Don't use common phrases, places or names.
  • Use a password manager to secure your passwords.
  • Dont use unsecured Wi-Fi accounts.