The new Top 20 most popular passwords

Users around the world continue to use easy-to-hack passwords
(photo: CC0 Public Domain)

Tomorrow, May 4, is Worldetc password day. On this occasion, the company NordPass publishinga list with the most frequently used passwords by users in the US and 29 other countries around the world.

The researchers processed more than 3 TB of data and identified the 200 most popular password combinations. Many passwords have remained on the list for years, although “123456” lost its lead this year, giving way to the word “guest”.

Experts claim that 83% of the passwords on the list can be cracked in less than a second. NordPass notes that “despite growing awareness of cybersecurity, old habits are hard to break.”

People still use weak passwords to protect their accounts. For example, simple combinations of letters, numbers and symbols such as “a1b2c3”, “abc123” or “qwerty” are very popular in the US.

When creating passwords, people tend to draw inspiration from cultural experiences, lifestyle trends or recent events, be it sports or fashion. For example, the names of American professional sports teams (Detroit Red Wings, Boston Red Sox) or their variants are very often used to protect a user account.

Here are the Top 20 most common passwords in the US:

• guest
• 123456
• password
• 12345
• a1b2c3
• 123456789
• Password1
• 1234
• abc123
• 12345678
• qwerty
• baseball
• football
• unknown
• soccer
• jordan23
• iloveyou
• monkey
• shadow
• g_czechout

New AI-based cracking tools pose a serious threat to strong passwords as well. Therefore, experts advise users to follow basic computer security rules:

• Use 2FA/MFA two-step authentication (if possible, not SMS-based);
• Check your password manager for warnings about compromised or reused passwords;
• Do not use the same password for different accounts;
• Use complex auto-generated passwords;
• Update passwords regularly, especially for sensitive accounts;
• Refrain from using public Wi-Fi, especially for financial transactions;
• For even greater security, use physical security keys.