"Jesus" and "Ninja": Newcomers in Scariest 2012 Passwords

“Jesus” and “Ninja” join older entries such as “password”, “123456” and “12345678” in the list of the scariest 2012 passwords, according to SplashData, a California-based company that makes password management applications. Other newcomers in the list of unsecure passwords include “welcome,” “mustang”, and “password1.”

“At this time of year, people enjoy focusing on scary costumes, movies and decorations, but those who have been through it can tell you how terrifying it is to have your identity stolen because of a hacked password,” said SplashData CEO Morgan Slain. “Even though each year hacking tools get more sophisticated, thieves still tend to prefer easy targets. Just a little bit more effort in choosing better passwords will go a long way toward making you safer online.”

The list of the annual “25 worst passwords of the year” also unraveled some classics such as “monkey”, “iloveyou” and “master.” The top was compiled after analyzing millions of stolen credentials cyber-crooks leaked on the Internet. SplashData advised users who recognize their password in the list to change it immediately, as they are most likely to be victims in future breaches.

In July, hackers posted more than 453,000 Yahoo credentials on the Internet after breaching the company`s subdomain using a union-based SQL injection technique. Other notorious data breaches this year include those at LinkedIn, eHarmony, and Last.fm.

To make passwords harder to guess, SplashData suggests avoiding using the same username/password combination for multiple websites, and choosing passwords of eight characters or more with mixed types of characters. Microsoft also warned that re-using passwords compromises users` online identity.