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People today are awash in passwords. In a digital world, passwords are the keys that unlock email, social networks, bank accounts and the devices that hold irreplaceable photos and work documents — in other words, the important stuff that's worth protecting at all costs. Right? Not so fast.

A recent survey found that people cherish data — especially photos — more than they do devices. And yet, few make any real effort to keep their irreplaceable memories safe and sound. Too often, that lackadaisical attitude leads people to cut corners with the passwords that protect all of that data in the first place.

A Hint? Avoid Sequential Numbers Starting with "1"

Security firm Splashdata recently released it's annual report of the 25 most commonly stolen passwords — and the results aren't encouraging. Despite high-profile data breaches last year that affected millions of companies, including Evernote, LivingSocial and Adobe, Neiman Marcus and Target, people still tempt fate by using rote passwords that are all-too-easy to crack. 

First, a sliver of good news: people may be starting to clue into the fact that "password" isn't, well, the safest password to use. Long the No. 1 most commonly stolen login credential, "password" fell off its perch last year. The bad news? It dropped to No. 2, edged aside by "123456."

Here's the best of the worst passwords from 2013. Let's hope none of them look familiar. 

  1. 123456
  2. password
  3. 12345678
  4. qwerty
  5. abc123
  6. 123456789
  7. 111111
  8. 1234567
  9. iloveyou
  10. adobe123
  11. 123123
  12. admin
  13. 1234567890
  14. letmein
  15. photoshop
  16. 1234
  17. monkey
  18. shadow
  19. sunshine
  20. 12345
  21. password1
  22. princess
  23. azerty
  24. trustno1
  25. 000000

Okay, in all fairness, keeping track of all of the passwords necessary to live in a digital world is nearly impossible. Who can blame someone for wanting to take the easy way out? Still, there's a difference between taking the easy way out and literally handing a thief the keys to the house. 

h/t Mashable

[Image via CanStock]

About Acronis

A Swiss company founded in Singapore in 2003, Acronis has 15 offices worldwide and employees in 50+ countries. Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is available in 26 languages in 150 countries and is used by over 20,000 service providers to protect over 750,000 businesses.