The great thing about having a blog is I can write totally nonsensical things like “Eagles defeat Patriots and Falcons in Stupid Bowl II.”
Yes, Stupid Bowl II. For all those who missed the very first Stupid Bowl check here.
Stupid Bowl Eye Eye focuses on which team's fans were found using their favorite NFL team name as part of their password the most. Not that NYjets12 can be found on any of my accounts, but it would be the password I would choose if I were so inclined.
The report was compiled by the password management company RoboForm.
RoboForm found that Philadelphia Eagles' fans are the most likely to use their team's name as a password, just nudging out Dallas Cowboy supporters, an unexpected result. (For the complete list jump to the bottom of the story.)
“Eagles being number one came as a surprise for us. Likewise Patriots at number 17 was lower than we expected. However, overall, what are considered to be more popular teams are near the top while less popular ones are near the bottom,” said Simon Davis, RoboForm's vice president of marketing.
Now looking forward to the big game this Sunday.
Depending upon how one measures winning in this scenario, the Patriots beat out the Falcons. The survey found that of the 32 NFL teams Pats' fans were 17th most likely to use their team name in a password, while the Falcon's faithful came in at 23rd being somewhat less likely to do so. However, this means that New Englanders were more likely to have their password compromised as they are more likely to break the cardinal, not those in Phoenix, rule of password creation – randomness.
The moral of the story is it's OK to love your team, even name your kids after them (I know a Jets fan who named his daughter so her initials would be JET), but don't use it as part of your cybersecurity plan.
“So by all means, express your undying love for your favorite team through face paint and jerseys and epic tailgates, but we think it's best to put your team spirit aside when it comes time to enter the password field,” Davis said.
The company derived its findings from a third-party list of 10 million passwords that was release by security researcher Mark Burnett in 2015. Yes the list is a bit old, but knowing footballs as I do I'd say the numbers probably stand the test of time.
