'I'm password expert - using some football teams more likely to get you hacked'

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Only half of internet users are somewhat familiar with best practices when it comes to password security.

Therefore, it may not be too much of a surprise that last year, more than 24 billion passwords were exposed by hackers.

To help avoid this, brand new data released by online security platform, mymxdata.com, reveals the most common words, phrases and values used in passwords.

READ MORE: Your password can be cracked in 3 seconds – here's what you need to do to stay protected

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Analysing data from a combination of global data breaches since 2019, the experts have scraped over 100 million different passwords to reveal what are the most common choice of password protection for internet users.

From names, years, seasons, number combinations, and values, to sports, football teams, famous celebrities and fictional characters, here are the passwords you should really avoid using.

When it comes to names, Michael is the most used – with it featuring in 107,678 passwords. This was followed by Daniel (99,399), Ashley (91,988), Jessica (86,410) and Charlie (82.348). Making up the rest of the top ten was Jordan (74,310), Michelle (71,816), Thomas (70,024) and Nicole (62,223).

However, it's not just named people use in passwords. Often, several websites will ask you to create one which contains numbers as well. However, 6,621,933 passwords contain the not-so complicated number combination of ‘123456’. This is followed by the combination of 123456789, used 2,258,198 times and 111111 used 968,155 times.

But what about using a year instead? Well 2013 is the one you should avoid, as it's been used 129,745 times, followed by 2010 (79.274). 1986 meanwhile comes in at third place, being used 78,709 times and 1987 has also been used 73,067 times. Finishing up the top five of most common years is 1989 – being used 61,405 times.

Many people also like to used football teams in their passwords. And if this is you, you may want to avoid using Liverpool – as it featured in 70,317 passwords. This was followed by Chelsea (55,834), Barcelona (46,273), Arsenal (45,321) and Juventus (38,169).

And music fans may want to use their favourite act or band in their password. However, if you like blink-182, maybe skip that as it was found to be used in 84,545. The band was followed by 50 Cent (55,897), Eminem (43,344), Slipknot (39,630) and Metallica (38,608).

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Fictional characters are also used a lot in passwords, and Superman is the most popular, according to the data, appearing in 86,937. This is followed by Batman (52,388), Wall-e (48,288), Hello Kitty (35,349) and SpongeBob (35,349).

Or if you like to opt for a season for your password, maybe avoid summer, which is the top choice, featuring in 57,453 passwords. Winter is second (22,517), followed by spring (11,737) and autumn (10,340).

Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson for mymxdata.com said: “The number of times ‘123456’ is used for security is a staggering 6.6 million times. Using a combination which is so obvious to hackers can put your personal information at high risk.

“Nearly everything we use online, from banking, shopping and social media used a password, and as cybercriminals continue to clamp down on users, high password security has never been so important."

Liverpool FC
Chelsea FC
Barcelona FC
Arsenal FC
Juventus FC

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