Bad Passwords: Good for Criminals
Every year, SpyCloud researchers analyze our billions of recaptured data assets looking for the most frequently reused passwords across third-party data breaches, phished data, and malware victim logs. Topical or pop culture-influenced passwords are generally easy to guess or crack – a field day for cybercriminals looking for easy entry points to perpetrate account takeover, online fraud, and even ransomware.
In the spirit of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we’re spotlighting the spookiest passwords from our database of darknet data that lurking criminals might guess or crack to sneak into your accounts.
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| Password Basewords | Total Count in Our Database - All Time | Total Count - Last 12 Months | Malware-Exfiltrated - All Time | Malware-Exfiltrated - Last 12 Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| spooky / supernatural / paranormal / creepy | 1,239,005 | 135,728 | 54,314 | 17,450 |
| midnight / twilight / shadow / shadows | 16,013,639 | 1,597,537 | 502,100 | 173,588 |
| ghost / phantom / ghoul / goblin | 52,665,513 | 5,904,615 | 2,435,435 | 889,934 |
| fear / scary / eerie / fright / afraid | 2,382,472 | 252,042 | 114,320 | 40,982 |
| horror / thriller / haunt / haunted | 732,289 | 73,223 | 26,915 | 8,642 |
| goosebumps / chills / shiver | 216,885 | 24,366 | 8,694 | 2,746 |
| dark / darkness / underground / evil | 27,633,539 | 3,344,859 | 1,723,197 | 626,293 |
| nightmare / curse / riddle / spell | 2,054,721 | 227,380 | 95,390 | 33,355 |
| terror / dread / scream | 2,424,005 | 247,349 | 109,628 | 40,572 |
| witchy / witch / mummy / monster | 9,436,760 | 1,143,650 | 536,646 | 188,488 |
| crypt / grave / graveyard / skeleton | 1,872,650 | 270,302 | 160,463 | 61,532 |
| halloween / trick / treat | 12,833,241 | 1,037,645 | 307,460 | 112,282 |
| demon / zombie / werewolf | 8,007,828 | 887,665 | 393,498 | 148,004 |
| mystery / strange / tale / secret | 18,937,195 | 2,186,079 | 772,770 | 272,154 |
Last updated: October 1, 2024
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.
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