EXPERTS have shared the most common passwords that can get users hacked, a new report found.
Passcode manager NordPass released its new study revealing the world’s 200 most common passwords in 2023.
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The research yielded some interesting revelations including that people use the weakest passwords for their streaming accounts.
In contrast, the strongest passwords are used for financial accounts.
Moreover, most internet users often take inspiration from a brand’s or company’s name when creating a password.
For example, on smartphone apps, people tend to use passwords like “iPhone6s,” or “Samsung1.”
And if you’re wondering what the most common password is in the US this year, it’s none other than “123456.”
The common passcode, which was used by at least 4,524,867 people, has held its crown for the past five years.
In the second, third, and fourth places are admin, 12345678, 123456789, and 1234, respectively.
All five of these passcodes can take hackers under less than one second to crack.
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It is well-documented that cybercrime is on the rise, especially as most payment options are expected to become completely digital in the future.
Furthermore, cybercrime has soared by 600% since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having a secure password can help mitigate your risk of falling victim to hack attacks, which can take over your devices and empty your bank accounts.
Tomas Smalakys, chief technology officer (CTO), at NordPass said: “The scariest part is that victims might not even realize that their computer is infected.
“Bad actors tend to hide malware in well-crafted phishing emails, imitating a legitimate organization, such as your bank or your company.
“123456 just doesn’t cut it anymore.”
HOW TO STAY SAFE
To help users stay safe from hack attacks, NordPass shared some tips with users when creating passcodes.
The first tip is to generate 20 character-long random passwords containing uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers.
Users should also avoid storing their passcodes on their browsers and adopt a password manager.
“In order to protect yourself from stealer malware, pay close attention to anything that you download onto your computer,” NordPass said.
“Malware is often distributed via phishing emails — so learn how to recognize them.”
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The list of passwords was extracted by cybersecurity experts who looked at a 4.3TB database from various publicly available sources/
NordPass explained that no personal data was acquired or purchased by the company to conduct this study.
