When considering the most obvious default password choices, what typically comes to mind? Perhaps “Admin1” or “Password1”?
Think about what your overly trusting Nan might use for her Hotmail account.
The Cybernews Investigation Team has recently unveiled the “most used” passwords that are still in circulation, and some of them are surprisingly outdated.
It appears that some individuals still feel comfortable using simple patterns like ‘1, 2, and 3’ as part of their passwords (if it works, it works!).
In total, data was collected from 15,212,645,925 passwords, of which 2,217,015,490 were found to be unique.
It’s also worth noting that these commonly used passwords often fall short of the recommended eight-character length.
Privacy expert Jason Wise explained, “Considering the multitude of passwords one needs to manage daily, it’s understandable to resort to simple passwords or consistently use the same one for various accounts.”
He added, “If you’re utilizing one of the most common passwords in 2024 or any variation mentioned in this guide, it’s advisable to make a change.”
The tech team also disclosed the common themes people tend to choose for their passwords, ranging from favorite sports teams to cities, food, and even curse words.
In order to safeguard against hackers, experts recommend avoiding personal information such as your name or age in passwords. They also advocate for utilizing password generators, which can create unique passwords consisting of 12 characters, including numbers, special characters, and a mix of lowercase and uppercase letters.
According to a report by Scientific American, a password with 12 characters is 62 trillion times harder to crack than one with only six characters.
Despite these precautions, experts caution that passwords alone may not suffice to prevent unauthorized access to your accounts. They recommend adding an extra layer of protection, such as multi-factor authentication.
A compilation of this year’s most commonly used passwords reveals that not much has changed since 2023, with many of the same passwords remaining popular choices. The top ten most common passwords used this year may either surprise you or seem painfully predictable. The list includes:
- 123456
- 123456789
- qwerty
- password
- 12345
- qwerty123
- 1q2w3e
- 12345678
- 111111
- 1234567890
According to Security.org, in 2023, 61% of users impacted by password hacking admitted to having passwords shorter than eight characters. Additionally, only 64% of passwords were between 8 to 11 characters in length.
