Last Updated on March 17, 2021 by Staff Writer
Why you need a tool like NordPass
In this article, we look at the top 200 dumbest passwords of 2021 but before we do that, here’s what you need to know first.
NordPass is a free tool that is a product of NordVPN. It is a password manager capable of generating complex, secure passwords that help you beat hackers because they are hard to crack.
In 2020, 275,699,516 breached passwords were populated and analysed for complexity. The results were shocking as these passwords were not generated by any password manager.
Nowadays, with more sophisticated password cracking software around, a password needs to be more complex than ever.
That’s why some sites prompt you to create a long password with numbers, special characters and capital letters.
Some systems even remember the last 2 or 3 passwords you used so that you don’t reuse them again.
Why go through all the trouble of trying to figure out all these complex passwords. NordPass does all the hard work for you and logging in is faster.
You can read more about NordPass in another section because now we dive into the heart of the topic.
Shocking statistics of the dumbest passwords
According to Forbes, more than half of the passwords populated in 2020 were not unique and that is shocking.
The numbers are as follows:
- 275,699,516 passwords breached
- 56% not randomly generated
- More than 50% condemned in the previous year
- 123456 is the most common password of 2020
The full list is found on NordPass website but a glimpse of the top 10 is as follows:
| Position | Password | Number of users | Time to crack it | Times exposed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 123456 | 2,543,285 | Less than a second | 23,597,311 |
| 2 | 123456789 | 961,435 | Less than a second | 7,870,694 |
| 3 | picture1 | 371,612 | 3 Hours | 11,190 |
| 4 | password | 360,467 | Less than a second | 3,759,315 |
| 5 | 12345678 | 322,187 | Less than a second | 2,944,615 |
| 6 | 111111 | 230,507 | Less than a second | 3,124,368 |
| 7 | 123123 | 189,327 | Less than a second | 2,238,694 |
| 8 | 12345 | 188,268 | Less than a second | 2,389,787 |
| 9 | 1234567890 | 171,724 | Less than a second | 2,264,884 |
| 10 | senha | 167,728 | 10 Seconds | 8,213 |
It’s shocking! The unfortunate bit is that there are even more dumb passwords that I haven’t captured in the table. Visit the link above to see more details.
NordPass went a step further by classifying the cracked passwords into categories. These are:
- Numbers
- Qwerty
- Device
- Swear Words
- Names
- Password
- Entertainment
- Positive Words
- Sports
- Random Letters
- Food
- Miscellaneous
There is nothing complex about any password that falls in those categories. If a password appears in a dictionary, definitely it’s out because it can be cracked in milliseconds.
It doesn’t have to be hard because you can simply use a password manager. NordPass password manager has a free and paid plan.
The free plan is adequate for most users unless you want more features.
What is the solution?
In addition to using a password, you should also enable 2FA (2 factor authentication) so that there is an additional layer of security.
If you read my article on WiFi Pineapple, you understand that a hacker can mount a brute-force attack on your password. The shorter and simpler the password, the faster it is cracked.
You can see from the above table that it takes only a matter of seconds to crack dumb passwords.
A cybersecurity expert from ESET commented, “Password managers, which can hold all our passwords securely, are the answer to this problem. Although many people think that putting all their passwords in one place on the cloud could make them vulnerable to attack, the opposite is in fact true.
The clever use of two-factor authentication (2FA) and robust encryption is a far stronger mix than having to remember 100s of accounts, each with three random words.”
Conclusion
These are the 200 dumbest passwords and I hope going forward you won’t be one of the people in the statistics.
In addition, keep the bad guys in the dark by using a VPN so that all your internet traffic is encrypted.
- Our VPN of choice is NordVPN
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 30-day free-trial
- 68% off a 2-year plan
- Adblock
- Anti-malware
Protect your identity on the web and if you receive any unsolicited email go through the 10 red flags above.
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