Bank accounts, social media profiles, streaming platforms and even smart refrigerators require passwords these days. Keeping track of a laundry list of passwords can be difficult and so can be creating new, unique ones.
For the sixth year, NordPass, an online password manager, has released a list of the 200 most common passwords. Though, ones that should be avoided due to how easy they are to “crack,” or hack.
2.5 terabytes of data from 44 countries, extracted from publicly-available sources, including those on the dark web were analyzed.
If your password ‘123456’ You should probably consider changing it
Basically, the password “123456” has been the number one most common password five out of six years. The six-digit, all-number password is even more popular than the classic, “password.”
How to create a strong password
Online users are urged to create passwords that are at least 20 characters long. Even if a platform only requires an eight-character password.
In addition, passwords should be a mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and special symbols, such as “%,” “!” and “@.” Stray away from using easily guessable information like names, birthdays and common words.
What’s the best way to save passwords?
Password managers are the best tools for saving passwords, according to the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre. Password managers store passwords safely on a mobile device or computer. Once a user has logged into a password manager, it will generate and remember all passwords for online accounts.
Many web browsers will offer to save passwords for users. Surprisingly, this is safe to do, too, as long as it is on a personal device.
Top 50 Most Common Passwords
123456
123456789
12345678
password
qwerty123
qwerty1
111111
12345
secret
123123
1234567890
0
qwerty
abc123
password1
iloveyou
11111111
dragon
monkey
123123123
123321
qwertyuiop
654321
target123
tinkle
zag12wsx
1g2w3e4r
gwerty123
gwerty
666666
1q2w3e4r5t
987654321
1q2w3e4r
a123456
1qaz2wsx
121212
abcd1234
asdfghjkl
123456a
88888888
Qwerty123!
Qwerty!
112233
q1w2e3r4t5y6
football
Also, never reuse passwords either.
Article by Greta Cross for USA TODAY©
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