Risk ranking pop culture passwords for an email software provider
What we did
For a client in the email software space, we identified the most common pop cultureāinspired passwords and revealed which ones leave users the most vulnerable to hacking.
How we did it
Step 1: Seed list building
We built a seed list of over 2,612 pop culture terms with a total of 63,849 variations (including different capitalization, punctuation, and spacing), covering everything from personalities and bands to video games and media franchises.
Step 2: Data collection
We cross-referenced these terms against the Pwned Passwords database, which contains over 300 million passwords exposed in known data breaches.
Step 3: Data analysis and ranking
We ranked all pop cultureāinspired passwords in our database, based on how often they appeared in real-world breaches.
Step 4: Practical value advice
With the goal of taking the findings one step forward, we worked with our client to round up practical password safety tips to help readers choose stronger, more secure alternatives in the future.
The results
70
Unique Referring Domains
61
Average Domain Rating
PhoneArena, Security Magazine, Metro, Forbes
Big Wins
The cherry on top
The Computer Services Center team from the University of South Alabama featured the full report in the Information Security News section of the university's website.
The campaign assets
"We know, we know, youāve heard all the warnings about not reusing passwords before, blah blah blah. And yet people still keep doing it, despite thousands of cyberattacks happening every day.
But even if youāre a big believer in different passwords for different websites, how secure is each one? Well, if youāre using the names of any famous people, bands or sports teams, the answer is ānot veryā.
Recent analysis by smart inbox company Mailsuite has revealed the most common pop culture passwords found in data breaches ā and some might surprise you."
Katherine Fidler
Metro.co.uk
