IT’S as easy as 123…to crack a password, or so it seems. New research shows that despite warnings against their simplicity and advice to use complex configurations, people are still using the most basic passwords that can be easily cracked.
Not “123”, surely?
The research shows that it’s the run of “123456” that’s proven to be the most popular password, used by more than 2.5 million people, and its obviousness and popularity meant that it was breached more than 23.5 million times in the last year, taking less than one second to crack.
In second place…?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, “123456789” takes the second spot, also cracked in under a second, according to a database analysis by password manager NordPass. Its list of the 200 most common passwords for online accounts in 2020 was released after a review of nearly 275.7 million passwords.
The other most commonly used include…
The third most popular password is a new entry to the top 10 - “picture1”, followed by, wait for it....."password" in fourth place, which was again cracked in milliseconds.
And the rest?
In fifth place it's "12345678", then "111111", "123123" and "12345". In ninth place is "1234567890|, with "senha" in the 10th spot - which means “password” in Portuguese. Others making up the top 15 including "OOOOOO", "qwerty" - named for the first six letters on the keyboard going from left to right on the top row - and "abc123".
12345?
Although in eighth place this year, with 188,000 people choosing it, it was in the top spot last year.
Why are we keeping it so simple?
The main reason is, of course, that even although they are the worst option in terms of security, the most popular passwords are simple and easy-to-remember, meaning they are used repeatedly, across various accounts and platforms.
What else did the research show?
NordPass - a password management system that launched in 2019, designed to help users organise their passwords - found that when coming up with new passwords, we like to focus on categories, such as numbers, swear words, names and food.
Ultimately, the easy options are security risks?
They may be convenient due to being so easy to remember, but NordPass said the top 10 passwords in their research could be cracked in 10 seconds or less, with “picture1” taking three hours.
What’s the most popular name used?
“Ashley” was the most popular name used as a password last year (26th place overall). This year, though, not only did it drop to the 31st position, but was also beaten by “aaron431” (18th place), which became the most popular name for a password.
The advice is?
NordPass say to create unique passwords for each account that are always longer than 12 characters, with a spokesman adding: “Avoid using dictionary words, number combinations, or strings of adjacent keyboard combinations. Also, refrain from repetitive characters, such as “aaaa” or “123abc”, and under no circumstances choose passwords based on personal details that might not be completely confidential, such as your phone number, birth date, or name.”
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