Passwords are the gateway to some of our most sensitive information. Our social media accounts, bank accounts, and websites are all hidden behind a password. With so much pivotal and important data regarding our businesses, and pretty much all other aspects of life, being guarded with a password, you’d want to have the best and strongest out there, right?
This need for strong, unguessable passwords is further highlighted by the numerous high-profile data breaches that have been happening over the past couple of years. Many companies and organisations have found them subjected to a hack that has led to sensitive data being compromised, including Facebook and the NHS.
NordPass, a password management company, has released a report detailing the 200 most used passwords of this year, stating that the top 20 are the worst passwords to have. The company has explained that this year has seen the most data hacks and breaches in history, effecting billions of people online. Furthermore, people tend to struggle to think of passwords that are both secure and memorable, and usually sacrifice the former.
The most commonly used password this year is ‘12345’, with over 2.8 million (2,812,220) people using this password. This is followed in second place by last year’s worst password* ‘123456’, which has been used by 2.4 million (2,485,216).
The rest of the top 10 are detailed below:
1. 12345
2. 123456
3. 123456789
4. test1
5. password
6. 12345678
7. zinch
8. g_czechout
9. asdf
10. qwerty
The list highlights that despite knowing that strong passwords are needed to keep our data secure, millions of us are still ignoring this in favour of having something quick and easy to remember. Not only are people opting for the easy passwords, they are using the same passwords for all of their accounts. This makes them very vulnerable to a cyberattack, which can have devastating effects, such as being unable to retrieve an account, losing data and even money.
As your data is so valuable to you and your business, it is therefore imperative to keep it safe with a strong password that is unlikely to be guessed.
The full list of NordPass’ most commonly used passwords can be seen here**.
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