True to form, NordPass has just put online its annual list of the most used passwords in the world. The manager created by NordVPN has listed the 200 most common passwords after having “examined and analyzed a 2.5 TB database extracted from various publicly available sources, including those on the dark web”.
Also read: Bad passwords are now banned in the UK
The world’s worst passwords
At the top of the list, we don’t find the timeless “password”, which was at the top of last year’s ranking. This year, the world ranking is dominated by combinations of numbers, starting with 123456. Without further ado, discover the list of the ten most used passwords by Internet users around the world:
- 123456
- 123456789
- 12345678
- password
- Qwerty123
- Qwerty1
- 111111
- 12345
- Secret
- 123123
As NordPass points out, “123456” is “topped the rankings as the most common password 5 times out of 6”while “password” only won the title last year.
The most common passwords in France
As always, NordPass also lists the most popular passwords by country. In France, the ranking is significantly similar to that of last year. However, we will note the emergence of several variations around the “Qwerty” password:
- 123456
- 123456789
- azerty
- qwerty123
- qwerty1
- azertyuiop
- marseille
- doudou
- link
- 12345678
- 1234561
- 000000
- pet
- counter pass
- soleil
- mypassphrase
- 1234567
- password
- nicolas
- camille
This year, the qwerty123 variant is also the “most common password in Canada, Lithuania, Netherlands, Finland and Norway”. Obviously, these are the first passwords that hackers trying to break into one of your accounts will test. This is why you should definitely not use one of the passwords on the list, or a similar variation. This amounts to giving the keys to your personal data to cybercriminals.
78% of passwords don’t last a second
More than 75% of the passwords recorded by NordPass can in fact be guessed in less than a second. To do this, cybercriminals can use algorithms capable of orchestrating brute force attacks. These will actually test a combination of characters until they come across the right password.
“After analyzing data collected over six years, we can say that people’s password habits have not improved much”NordPass regretted.
For the first time, NordPass has studied the differences between passwords used for personal and professional purposes. Researchers have noticed that it’s usually the same weak passwords that keep coming up in the rankings. The company specifies that “40% of the passwords most used by individuals and business managers are the same”. However, the researchers noted small differences. Words like “newmember, admin, newuser, or welcome” are confined to the professional world.
“Whatever setting I find myself in, my password choices are influenced by the same criteria: namely practicality, personal experiences or cultural environment”analyzes Karolis Arbaciauskas, product manager at NordPass.
Instead of using a common code, we advise you to opt for a random succession of numbersletters and symbols with a length of at least twelve characters. If you lack inspiration, use a password generator. Next, take the time to set up a password manager to avoid forgetting your codes. If you still have doubts about the benefit of these precautions, we invite you to discover these five news stories where negligence in choosing the password led to catastrophic consequences.
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Source :
NordPass
