How safe is your security password?

Hackers can break into many accounts just by trying common passwords, warns SplashData. Sean Kilpatrick/CP

Internet users who've selected short, clever security passwords like "password" and "123456" might want to think twice.

Those are just two of the passwords to appear on SplashData, Inc.'s list of the 25 worst passwords of 2011, reports CBC News.  Other popular but totally unsafe passwords on the list include "michael," "let me in" and "sunshine."

SplashData, Inc., a security company, compiled the list from files containing stolen passwords posted online by hackers.

Many passwords on the list are sequences of numbers between 1 and 6 in order, either forward or backward. Sequences of letters on the keyboard in order, such as "qwerty" and "qazwsx" were also common, as were some first names, sports and animals.

"If you have a password that is short or common or a word in the dictionary, it's like leaving your door open for identity thieves," said Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData, Inc., in a statement Monday.

How safe is your security password? Have you ever experienced problems as a result of a weak password? Let us know in the comments below.

(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)