Worst Passwords of 2019 Published
The developers of the NordPass password manager have released a list of the 200 most commonly used and weakest passwords of the year, discovered through various hacks and data breaches. Researchers analyzed a database containing over 500,000,000 passwords, and NordPass notes that this is not as massive a dump as one might think. For example, the “Collection #1” leak discovered earlier this year contained almost a terabyte of leaked data: 2,692,818,238 records.
Unfortunately, almost nothing changed in 2019. The most popular passwords are still obvious and easy to guess. These include number combinations (12345, 111111, 123321), common female names (Nicole, Jessica, Hannah), and simple patterns formed by horizontal or vertical lines on the keyboard (asdfghjkl, qazwsx, 1qaz2wsx). Even the most obvious password—“password”—is still used by 830,846 people in the sample studied.
Researchers explain that users simply don’t want to remember complex passwords or make an effort, and many genuinely believe they have nothing to hide. Experts counter this argument with a simple analogy:
“Users think they have nothing to hide. However, you lock your door when you leave your house. Even if there’s nothing valuable inside, you still wouldn’t want strangers looking through your personal belongings. So why not apply the same logic to your online life?
You may think you have nothing to hide, but what if you end up losing access to all your accounts: email, file storage with all your photos, social networks, and so on? Imagine having to pay thousands of dollars to regain access. A weak password is a disaster waiting to happen, so take action before it’s too late.”
The full list of the worst passwords of 2019 can be found on the experts’ blog, but here is the Top 10:
- 12345
- 123456
- 123456789
- test1
- password
- 12345678
- zinch
- g_czechout
- asdf
- qwerty