While cybersecurity experts and digital security companies constantly warn about the dangers of using a weak password for your online accounts, it seems like netizens cannot get enough of the “123456” password. The said password topped the list of the top 200 most common passwords of the year for the second year in a row. So, let’s take a look at some of the other common passwords of users on the internet.
Top Most Common Passwords on the Internet
NordPass, a popular password management company, recently published a report listing the most common passwords that are used by internet users. Amongst other simple passwords like “12345”, “qwerty”, and “password”, the report revealed that the most common password on the internet is still “123456”.
The “123456” password, as per the report, is being used by more than 103 million accounts on the internet, making it the most common password on the internet. And the worst part is that the password is so simple that hackers can crack it in less than a second to get into a user account.
Other than this, over 46 million accounts use the second most common password, which is “123456789”, and over 32 million accounts rely on the password “12345”. Moreover, “qwerty” and “password” are used by over 22 million accounts and 20 million accounts. respectively. The report states that all these passwords can be cracked by hackers in less than a second.
You can check out the top 8 most common passwords in the image attached below, or head to NordPass’ report to check out all the 200 most common passwords of the internet.
Why Do You Need a Strong Password?
Now, if you have been on the internet for some time, chances are you might know the significance of a strong password for your accounts. Passwords like “123456” or “password” have become pretty common for users’ accounts, and it is dangerous for users, especially in recent times when we all depend on our online accounts for most of our transactions, meetings, and other professional activities.
So, if your account is lacking a strong password that cannot be cracked by hackers, they can easily gain access to your account and use your personal and financial data against you. Moreover, if you use the same password for multiple accounts, it will get worse as attackers would be able to get into all your online accounts with a single piece of information.
Hence, if you want to protect your accounts, we suggest you keep a strong password for them. A strong password should generally include an upper-case letter, a lower-case letter, a numerical, and a symbol like “@” or “#”. This way, it will be difficult for hackers to crack your password which, in turn, will keep your accounts safe and secured.
Can someone tell me, if they encrypt our passwords and save them in encrypted form, how do they know them?
It’s brute force. Programs try all combinations starting with most likely used paterns.