The sixth edition of NordPass’ annual study, which 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 Switzerland.
Most commonly used passwords in Switzerland consist of a series of numbers and letters. 78% of the world’s most common passwords can be cracked in less than a second, which once again reminds us to avoid popular keyword terms and combinations in passwords. Nearly half of the world’s most common passwords are made up of the easiest-to-crack combinations of numbers and letters. Switzerland is no exception to the rule. Passwords used for personal and business accounts aren’t much different: 40% of the most common passwords in both categories are the same.
Within a year, the popularity of the “qwerty” password was dethroned by the equally weak “qwerty123,” which is now the most common password in several countries. In Switzerland, this password also made a big jump this year, reaching the top 5.
The most common passwords in Switzerland are
123456
qwerty123
qwerty1
123456789
Abcd1234
12345678
password
12345
1234567
1234567890
qwerty
123123
111111
1q2w3e4r
portugal
password
000000
qwertzuiop
Qwerty123
Qwerty1!
While experts continue to urge Internet users to strengthen their passwords, many seem to have misunderstood the instructions. The popularity of “qwerty” has been dethroned by the equally weak password “qwerty123”, which is now the most common password in Canada, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Finland and Norway. In Switzerland, this password also made a quantum leap this year, reaching second place in the rankings.
The word “password” can now be considered one of the most common and durable passwords globally. From year to year, it tops the list in all countries. In Switzerland it is the 7th most commonly used password, while for the British and Australians it comes first. 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.
Corporate passwords are just as bad
Researchers also studied the differences between passwords used for personal and professional purposes. The results are surprising: 40% of the passwords most used by individuals and business managers are the same.
Default passwords such as “newmember”, “admin”, “newuser”, “welcome” and other similar passwords are commonly used for business accounts. Passwords presumably created for new users with the idea that they will be changed, such as “newpass” or “temppass”, are often leaked as users are not big fans of changing passwords. password.
“Whether I’m wearing a suit and tie to work or browsing social media in my pajamas, I’m still the same person. This means that whatever setting I find myself in, my password choices are influenced by the same criteria: namely practicality, personal experiences or cultural environment. Companies that ignore these factors and leave password management in the hands of their employees are putting the online security of their business and their customers at risk,” says Karolis Arbaciauskas, Product Manager at 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
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.
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.
Go for passkeys 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.
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.
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