NordPass has published its list of Top 200 Most Common Passwords for the year 2020, and these passwords are laughably insecure. Indeed, people are putting their data at risk by using these easy-to-guess passwords. Experts claim that if your password is easy for you to remember, it might be easy for a hacker to crack it. Tech companies have warning users for years to use hard-to-crack passwords. Moreover, they recommend consumers to use two-factor authentication. However, users are still using insecure codes.
According to NordPass, the majority of consumers use easy-to-remember and straightforward passwords only because it is convenient. However, the problem is that these most memorable codes are highly vulnerable to cracking. If you use such insecure passwords, the chances are that a hacker will easily crack your password.
The top three passwords in the list of 200 most used passwords for 2020 are 123456, 123456789, and picture1. ‘password’ is the No. 4 on this list, followed by various number combinations as well as qwerty, abc123, and Million2. It is worth mentioning that consumers need to avoid using phrases such as iloveyou, omgpop, Ashley, sunshine, dragon, pokemon, chatbooks, and princess as their passwords.
The platform worked with a third-party provider in order to evaluate a database containing 275,699,516 codes. Out of these 275,699,516 passwords, only 44% were unique. The other passwords were repeats of common and easy-to-remember codes that leave people highly vulnerable to threats. It is worth noting that only 78 out of these 200 most common passwords this year were new. According to a cybersecurity expert at NordPass, Chad Hammond, if your password is among these 200 most used passwords of 2020, then you should change it immediately. Hammond stated that a hacker could hack most of these passwords in less than a second. The cybersecurity expert added that these passwords have already been exposed in previous data breaches. For instance, the password, 123456, has already been breached 23,597,311 times.
The most important question here is what you need to do to strengthen your password. You can use complex codes and save them in a password manager. Some password managers are free to use, such as Enpass Password Manager and Avira Password Manager. PCMag Editor’s Choice password managers are LastPass, Dashlane, and Keeper. Moreover, you should always two-factor authentication if available.
Read next: Microsoft warns that the SMS and Voice format of Multi-factor authentication is unsafe and un-encrypted, so it should be abandoned, and app-based authentication protocol must be used
According to NordPass, the majority of consumers use easy-to-remember and straightforward passwords only because it is convenient. However, the problem is that these most memorable codes are highly vulnerable to cracking. If you use such insecure passwords, the chances are that a hacker will easily crack your password.
The top three passwords in the list of 200 most used passwords for 2020 are 123456, 123456789, and picture1. ‘password’ is the No. 4 on this list, followed by various number combinations as well as qwerty, abc123, and Million2. It is worth mentioning that consumers need to avoid using phrases such as iloveyou, omgpop, Ashley, sunshine, dragon, pokemon, chatbooks, and princess as their passwords.
The platform worked with a third-party provider in order to evaluate a database containing 275,699,516 codes. Out of these 275,699,516 passwords, only 44% were unique. The other passwords were repeats of common and easy-to-remember codes that leave people highly vulnerable to threats. It is worth noting that only 78 out of these 200 most common passwords this year were new. According to a cybersecurity expert at NordPass, Chad Hammond, if your password is among these 200 most used passwords of 2020, then you should change it immediately. Hammond stated that a hacker could hack most of these passwords in less than a second. The cybersecurity expert added that these passwords have already been exposed in previous data breaches. For instance, the password, 123456, has already been breached 23,597,311 times.
The most important question here is what you need to do to strengthen your password. You can use complex codes and save them in a password manager. Some password managers are free to use, such as Enpass Password Manager and Avira Password Manager. PCMag Editor’s Choice password managers are LastPass, Dashlane, and Keeper. Moreover, you should always two-factor authentication if available.
Read next: Microsoft warns that the SMS and Voice format of Multi-factor authentication is unsafe and un-encrypted, so it should be abandoned, and app-based authentication protocol must be used
