Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

CNN's List Of The Most Commonly Hacked Passwords Reveals That We've Never Moved On From The Late '90s

CNN's List Of The Most Commonly Hacked Passwords Reveals That We've Never Moved On From The Late '90s
Witthaya Prasongsin / EyeEm/GettyImages, @christiannilsen/Twitter




With cyber attacks and compromised accounts being constant concerns, you may want to rethink your password strategy. Especially if your passwords are specific to the '90s.

CNN shared the most common passwords people come up with, and some will shock you.

Many Internet users use names, sports teams and expletives, while "123456" was the most common used by 23.2 million accounts.

Now that's just lazy.

If you fall into any of the above-mentioned categories and want your information protected, it's time for a change.


According to a survey taken by UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), one of the top passwords used to break into systems worldwide was "Blink182."


If you're not familiar with the code word, Blink 182 was a Southern California band that dominated the skate punk scene in the early '90s, which was known for its irreverent humor with songs like "Apple Shampoo" and "Dammit."




CNN tweeted out the other usual suspects, including "iloveyou" and "superman."






Fans of the band were made fun of for their nostalgia-inspired password.


Dedicated fans of Blink-182 spoke out.




Finally, Blink's percussionist Travis Barker weighed in with an "oh well" emoji, and fans responded by admitting they use his name as a password.





Ian Levy, NCSC Technical Director suggested avoiding the obvious choices like first names and favorite bands.

"Password re-use is a major risk that can be avoided -- nobody should protect sensitive data with something that can be guessed, like their first name, local football team or favorite band."

He added:

"Using hard-to-guess passwords is a strong first step and we recommend combining three random but memorable words. Be creative and use words memorable to you, so people can't guess your password."

Sorry to disappoint, but Blink-182 can't save you now. If you need a handy place to keep all your passwords in one place, check out this notebook. Or this one. But, uh, don't leave them somewhere obvious. That's like using 123456 for everything.

More from Trending

Screenshot of Donald Trump
@atrupar/X

Trump Dragged After Making Ridiculous Claim About Randomly Finding Billions On The 'Tariff Shelf'

President Donald Trump was criticized after he claimed to reporters this week that officials in his administration suddenly found $30 billion they "never knew existed"—located on what Trump referred to as the "tariff shelf."

Tariffs are a tax on imported goods, usually calculated as a percentage of the purchase price. While tariffs can shield domestic manufacturers by making foreign products more expensive, they are also used as a tool to penalize countries engaged in unfair trade practices, such as government subsidies or dumping goods below market value.

Keep ReadingShow less
food prep
Katie Smith on Unsplash

Professional Chefs Share The Top Mistakes Average Home Cooks Make

With the expansion of cable television and then streaming services, a number of competition shows featuring amateur home cooks. Shows like Master Chef and The Great British Bake Off garnered huge followings and spawned numerous global and domestic spin-offs.

The food produced by these amateurs is beyond the talents of even some professional chefs. But what about the average home cook? What can they learn from the professionals?

Keep ReadingShow less
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

RFK Jr.'s HHS Blasted As CDC Panel Considers Dropping Life-Saving Hepatitis B Vaccine For Newborns

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), met Thursday for the first of two days of discussions about childhood vaccine schedules and recommendations.

The panel focused on the hepatitis B vaccine and plans to vote on Friday whether to continue recommending it be given to all children at birth or to recommend something entirely different. The panel previously tabled making a decision on infant and early childhood hep-B vaccination in September.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @monicasanluiss's TikTok video
@monicasanluiss/TikTok

Bride's Friends Surprise Her With Montage Video Of All Her Exes At Bachelorette Party—And People Are Mortified

While Jenny Han's novel To All the Boys I've Loved Before was a major hit, and even became a great film success in 2018, not everyone's married to the idea of reconnecting with their exes after the relationships end.

It might be nice to imagine staying friends after the relationships, imagining our exes missing us or regretting losing us, or even giving us an apology for the things they did wrong. But most of us pine for this for a little while, realize it's all a fairy tale, and push past it to better things and new love.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @alexamcnee's TikTok video
@alexamcnee/TikTok

TikToker Sparks Debate After Calling Out Driver's Extremely Bright Headlights For Blinding Her

Whether we are drivers or passengers, we've all experienced that annoying, possibly painful moment of feeling like we're being blinded by a fellow driver whose headlights are far too bright for a standard car on a standard road.

But while most of us complain about it to ourselves and leave it at that, TikToker Alexa McNee stepped up for all of us and called it out.

Keep ReadingShow less