The most-used passwords of 2017 make for some very depressing reading

It turns out that 'qwerty' is quite easy to guess. And so is 'starwars'

Your password might be the most important part of your digital identity. Of course, it can be frustrating to continually be asked to come up with a unique phrase that consists of letters, numbers, symbols and an emoji of a man wearing a hat.

SplashData's annual list of the 100 most insecure passwords 'celebrates' the phrases that no internet user should ever use, but many consistently do. It has again confirmed what we are told every year: we never learn.

As you'd expect, "123456" takes the top spot (as it has done for the last four years), along with the classic popular choice of idiots, "password", followed by a new yet exceptionally unique entry "12345678". You'll notice it's also quite obvious there are plenty of Star Wars, football and monkey fans out there, the further you get down the list.

"Unfortunately, while the newest episode may be a fantastic addition to the Star Wars franchise, ‘starwars' is a dangerous password to use," said SplashData CEO Morgan Slain. "Hackers are using common terms from pop culture and sports to break into accounts online because they know many people are using those easy-to-remember words."

Somewhat surprisingly for those of us who operate in the IT space, SplashData said that almost 10 per cent of people have used at least one of the 25 worst passwords on this year's list, and nearly three per cent of internet users have used the worst password, 123456.

Nevertheless, here's the top 25 worst passwords of 2017. For the complete list of 100, head over to Spashdata's official page.

1. 123456

2. Password

3. 12345678

4. qwerty

5. 12345

6. 123456789

7. letmein

8. 1234567

9. football

10. iloveyou

11. admin

12. welcome

13. monkey

14. login

15. abc123

16. starwars

17. 123123

18. dragon (Up 1)

19. passw0rd

20. master

21. hello

22. freedom

23. whatever

24. qazwsx

25. trustno1