Bad Passwords:
Good for Criminals
Topical or pop culture-influenced passwords are far too easy to guess or crack – a field day for cybercriminals looking for easy entry points to perpetrate account takeover, online fraud and even ransomware.
Every year, SpyCloud researchers analyze our billions of recaptured data assets looking for the most frequently reused passwords across third-party data breaches and malware victim logs as a key component of our Annual Identity Exposure Report. But we thought a more frequent look at popular password keywords was warranted. Here’s a look at topical passwords and themes that are prevalent in our database of darknet data.
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Top 5 Topical Passwords You Should Retire Immediately
| Password Basewords | Total Count - Last 12 months | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the masters / pga / LIV / golf | 7,086,877 |
| 2 | cookies / candy / cake / pie | 5,018,680 |
| 3 | 2,076,917 | |
| 4 | april fools / april 1 / joke / prank | 975,913 |
| 5 | lady gaga / gaga / mayhem | 468,236 |
Last updated: April 7, 2025
Read our article Tips for Strong Passwords to learn how to avoid these easy password creation pitfalls and build better defense for your accounts and systems.
Top Pop Culture Inspired Compromised Passwords by Theme
Take a look at the latest stats for music, TV, politics and other themed passwords in our recaptured data. We share both the total counts in our entire data collection as well as a look at what we’ve recaptured from infostealer logs.
- Music / Celebrity
| Password Basewords | Total Count in Our Database - All Time | Total Count - Last 12 Months | Malware-Exfiltrated - All Time | Malware-Exfiltrated - Last 12 Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bon iver / fable / sable / wisconsin | 1,147,310 | 144,433 | 49,321 | 8,800 |
| lady gaga / gaga / mayhem | 3,783,395 | 468,236 | 166,782 | 31,525 |
| sabrina carpenter / espresso / potterhead / please | 2,327,472 | 232,384 | 72,244 | 11,723 |
- Politics / Global
| Password Basewords | Total Count in Our Database - All Time | Total Count - Last 12 Months | Malware-Exfiltrated - All Time | Malware-Exfiltrated - Last 12 Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| trump / donald trump / president trump | 790,967 | 82,238 | 21,373 | 3,847 |
| democrat | 52,799 | 4,576 | 1,060 | 105 |
| republican | 23,928 | 1,615 | 404 | 56 |
- Gaming
| Password Basewords | Total Count in Our Database - All Time | Total Count - Last 12 Months | Malware-Exfiltrated - All Time | Malware-Exfiltrated - Last 12 Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB The Show / baseball / goat | 9,185,578 | 711,768 | 124,203 | 32,565 |
| minecraft / creeper / enderdragon / nether | 4,473,637 | 1,237,794 | 376,516 | 75,746 |
| assassins creed / shadows / shinobi / samurai | 1,808,896 | 210,346 | 65,519 | 10,373 |
| zelda / link / nintendo / ganondorf | 21,264,023 | 2,666,288 | 746,938 | 134,221 |
- TV / MOVIES
| Password Basewords | Total Count in Our Database - All Time | Total Count - Last 12 Months | Malware-Exfiltrated - All Time | Malware-Exfiltrated - Last 12 Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| snow white / 7 dwarfs / happy / sleepy | 12,713,660 | 1,092,589 | 305,354 | 53,934 |
| severance / adam scott | 36,802 | 4,954 | 1,720 | 333 |
| white lotus / resort / thailand | 674,625 | 91,245 | 27,724 | 5,388 |
| bridgerton / whistledown | 721 | 309 | 93 | 29 |
- Holidays / Events
| Password Basewords | Total Count in Our Database - All Time | Total Count - Last 12 Months | Malware-Exfiltrated - All Time | Malware-Exfiltrated - Last 12 Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| blue bonnets / spring / flower | 11,179,240 | 830,069 | 167,854 | 31,650 |
| easter / easter bunny / easter egg | 597,313 | 45,766 | 10,366 | 1,726 |
| passover / pesach | 31,257 | 2,158 | 506 | 85 |
| april fools / april 1 / joke / prank | 8,972,780 | 975,913 | 322,834 | 58,450 |
| tax day / april 15 / irs taxes | 144,069 | 12,164 | 3,726 | 778 |
| spring break | 9,224 | 763 | 104 | 17 |
| memorial day / rememberance day / may 26 | 290,576 | 52,377 | 19,565 | 3,915 |
- Tech / Other
| Password Basewords | Total Count in Our Database - All Time | Total Count - Last 12 Months | Malware-Exfiltrated - All Time | Malware-Exfiltrated - Last 12 Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tiktok | 218,523 | 139,272 | 29,885 | 7,913 |
| insta / instagram | 1,727,352 | 967,461 | 201,374 | 38,908 |
| 4,399,963 | 2,076,917 | 242,695 | 40,943 | |
| xbox | 2,965,728 | 480,887 | 145,579 | 28,631 |
| 698,318 | 465,214 | 88,143 | 14,711 | |
| spotify | 419,420 | 318,223 | 78,450 | 17,289 |
| 87,961 | 54,906 | 13,115 | 2,091 | |
| netflix | 1,212,559 | 918,188 | 175,534 | 33,611 |
| hulu | 512,009 | 116,607 | 35,975 | 7,299 |
| amazon / amazon prime | 1,920,286 | 1,080,937 | 271,875 | 49,614 |
| apple tv | 4,738 | 1,693 | 702 | 75 |
- Sports
| Password Basewords | Total Count in Our Database - All Time | Total Count - Last 12 Months | Malware-Exfiltrated - All Time | Malware-Exfiltrated - Last 12 Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| march madness / NCAA / basketball | 2,920,681 | 226,499 | 33,462 | 5,569 |
| the masters / pga / LIV / golf | 43,548,663 | 7,086,877 | 1,948,399 | 381,622 |
| formula1 / grandprix / verstappen / red bull | 1,196,436 | 112,055 | 32,999 | 5,149 |
| soccer / football / premier league | 22,388,797 | 1,321,774 | 134,153 | 22,230 |
- Food
| Password Basewords | Total Count in Our Database - All Time | Total Count - Last 12 Months | Malware-Exfiltrated - All Time | Malware-Exfiltrated - Last 12 Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cookies / candy / cake / pie | 41,834,019 | 5,018,680 | 1,381,855 | 255,662 |
| vegan / veggie / carrot / broccoli / pepper | 6,587,057 | 465,866 | 85,853 | 15,111 |
| apple / banana / orange / strawberry / fruit | 26,618,409 | 2,796,096 | 725,101 | 133,812 |
| chef / cook / bake / recipe | 13,856,330 | 1,222,352 | 275,593 | 54,622 |
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