NordPass has unveiled the 6th edition of its annual Top 200 Passwords ranking, which reveals the most commonly used passwords around the world as well as in 44 countries separately. In Belgium, a top 20 of the most used passwords has been established. Find out.
The sixth edition of the annual study from NordPass, a VPN company that establishes the Top 200 most common passwords, has been published.
For the first time, it reveals both the personal and professional passwords chosen by Internet users to secure their accounts. The study covers the most popular passwords around the world and in 44 countries separately, including Belgium.
This year, the most common password in Belgium is “123456”. It occupies first place in the top 20 for us. Behind, we also find:
2. qwerty123
3. qwerty1
4. 123456789
5. azerty
6. newmember
7. password
8. azerty123
9. 12345678
10. azertyuiop
11. Qwerty1!
12. 12345
13. password
14. Qwerty123
15. pokemon
16. Qwerty1
17. Qwerty123!
18. computer
19. anderlecht
20. Azerty123
According to NordPass research, 78% of the world’s most common passwords can be cracked in less than a second. Compared to last year (70%), we see that the situation has worsened.
Hidden dangers
According to the previous edition of the study conducted by NordPass, an Internet user has on average 168 passwords for personal use and 87 passwords for professional use. While managing that amount of passwords is simply too complicated for most people, experts say it’s only natural that people tend to create weak passwords and, of course, reuse them.
However, weak passwords created by company employees benefit hackers who, through brute force, dictionary or other similar large-scale attacks, can easily gain access to the company’s internal computer systems. In another common scenario, cybercriminals break into company systems using an employee’s personal credentials, simply because the employee used the same passwords for their personal and work accounts.
How to properly manage your personal and business passwords
To avoid falling victim to cyberattacks due to irresponsible password management, Arbaciauskas recommends following some simple but effective cybersecurity tips:
1/ Create strong passwords or passphrases. Passwords must be at least 20 characters long: the latest studies show that a long password can work miracles. A strong password consists of a random combination of numbers, letters and special characters. You can also use a passphrase. Then choose a long string of random words: it doesn’t have to be a phrase that everyone knows.
2/ Never reuse your passwords. Typically, each account should be protected with a unique password. Otherwise, if an account is stolen, hackers can easily use the same credentials to break into other accounts.
3/ Opt for access keys as soon as possible. Access keys (passkeys) constitute the most promising alternative to permanently replace passwords. Most modern online service providers, including Google, Microsoft and Apple, offer their customers the option of using access keys.
4/ Implement a password policy in your organization. Password managers allow businesses to protect their credentials and manage them effectively, by establishing password policies within the organization. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) requirements should also be considered when adopting a password policy.
passwords most common passwords qwerty 123456
